Work from Home – Online

Working from home is on the rise – especially for Canadians and Americans faced with high fuel prices.

The age of the computers and the popularity of the internet has changed the way that hundreds of thousands of us now earn an income. Some work for themselves as online business owners, as freelancers for small business owners, or as virtual staff for our existing employers.

What has been slow to change is our understanding of the opportunities available to us personally – especially if we have spent a lifetime of reporting to an office, restaurant or merchandise store, 5 days a week and earning a paycheck week to week.

Before you read on, I’m asking you to consider the following.

"You can work from home and you can make the same money online, if not more, than you’ve been earning in the past."

You can. And there are a multitude of ways to go about it. But first you must grasp these two basic concepts:

• The attribute that makes you successful (either as staff or an entrepreneur) is passion.
• The only thing that stops you is laziness. (I’ve read about disabled, even blind people, that work at home online. If they can have the passion for and do it, you can too! No excuses.)

The opportunities and options are varied – even if your only skill is to be able to answer a phone, you can still work from home.

Below you’ll find descriptions and theories on how you too can work from home online.

Online Employment

1. Keep your current job, but connect to others at the office and submit your work online.

Also known as telecommuting. Today, many large corporations are reaping the benefits of allowing their employees to work from their own home.

The corporations save money on office space and utility expenses. And studies have shown that employees who work from home are generally more productive than those at the office (who generally spend far more time socializing than working). People are paid to work for 7 hours and under the right circumstances, they work harder from home than in head office where they become easily distracted.

Is this home employment opportunity for you? If you like your job and you like the company you work for, take the time and trouble to research this option, write up a proposal, and present it to your human resource manager or directly to your boss.

2. Work for your present employer, but on contract.

This is what I call ‘exclusive freelance’. Your second best option if you like the job you currently perform for your present employer, but they don’t ‘buy’ the work at home concept just yet.

You’ll probably lose your benefits and company paid pension, so if your employer is open to the suggestion of contract freelance, make sure you negotiate a rate in pay (either per hour or per unit of work delivered) that reflects the loss of corporate benefits (in larger companies with good plans and benefits, start the negotiations at 15% of your present salary).

3. Do contract work online through placement agencies.

Freelance Agency Placements – Apply for Employment Online. If you want to work from home in your industry spend some time talking to those who have current knowledge in employment trends – Placement Agencies. Not only will you be able to hone your skills to the marketplace, you will also gain valuable insight into your field of expertise (current rates of pay, highest skill demand, etc.), all the while making contacts.

4. Work for yourself by bidding for contracts or grabbing assignments you’ve found online.

Freelance. Moonlight. Dependant on your skills and industry, there are many opportunities to do what you do from the comfort of your own home.

This may require a little start-up research (investigation, preparation of presentation, research, and making contacts), plus some persistent or frequent evaluation (of your personal skills and goals and how they match industry trends).

On the other hand if the tasks you’re willing to perform as a freelancer, are not specialize, you can grab an assignment and start working from home, online, within a few days.

Now you must know that I’m up to something here. In my mind, anyone who is dedicated enough to freelance is entrepreneur material – yes, one day I do want you to experience the joy and freedom of having your own business and freelancing is the first small step into that realm of running a home based business!

Once you’ve had a few successful contract assignments (where you are essentially your own boss delivering the goods to a client/consumer at your own rates), you are well on your way to the next step – starting a small business or running an online business.

To become familiar with contractual work in your industry,  start investigating some freelance opportunities. On the right side of that page you’ll see most of the categories of freelancing opportunities. They change every day, so add the page to your favorites and check back regularly.

Work at Home Online

Think Untraditionally about Working from Home

I want you to think ‘outside of the box’. I want you to think of an income in non-traditional, unconventional ways…

And seriously consider the vast variety of ways to work online from home.

Alternatives to Monday-Friday, 9 to 5, Employment

As explained in detail above, you can:

• tele-commute,
• contract work (working from home or a rural office for a variety of corporations),
• sell products via websites* (this can be done from home as well),
• set up a small town shop*

*The products you sell can be something hand made or products you buy wholesale in bulk and sell one-at-a-time. There is a huge faction of small businesses involved in the trend of drop-shipping, working from home.

Changing Your Work Attitude

Most people never understand that which Confucius said hundreds of years ago:

"Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life."

I urge you to contemplate that saying today. If you need more help changing your mindset over work, working from home or traditional employment please grab a copy of Do What You Love, The Money Will Follow: Discovering Your Right Livelihood
(you can grab it at amazon for less than $12 and it could change your life.

Finally I suggest all my friends and online visitors to learn about marketing niche info products and hard goods for free at my other site. Spend 20 minutes there and be inspired to start making a living at home, where ever your home may be.

Laura Childs
Internet Entrepreneur, Writer, and Work at Home Mom

If you don’t have time to read right now, you can save this page to your favorites or email the page address to yourself (or a friend) – quick links to do either are at the top of this page, beside the title of this article.

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