The Pros and Cons of Working at Home

This seems to be a recurring theme on GoodByeCityLife’s Country Living.People writing in saying they want a legitimate home based business, asking how I handle it, what I do, and if I think that this type of ‘work’ is suitable for them.

Although I often consult with my subscribers – helping personally is far more beneficial than generically – there are clues that will tell you if working at home is for you.

To that end, I present to you, the pros and cons of a working at home in a home based business.

Have a quick read through, do a little soul searching and you’ll soon know if you’re right for the ‘job’ of being an at home entrepreneur. If the list of ‘cons’ intimidate you, you’re not quite ready for a home business.

Working at Home Pro #1

Independence! Yay! You can finally do what you want, when you want. You no longer have to justify your every move to a boss or wait until Christmas for a bonus, or a staff evaluation for a raise. You get to decide your value, your work, your worth.

Make a list and check it twice to see if this type of business will work for you.

Working at Home Con #1

No job security. No pension plan. No health benefits. If you’ve got an expense, it’s up to you. If you get sick and haven’t planned ahead, you’re in trouble. Vacations are no longer a perk or paid time off. You’re completely on your own.

Work at Home Pro #2

The profits are all yours (after, of course, you pay your business income tax). Remember when you were working for the company and your suggestion or idea saved them thousands of dollars or secured a contract for hundreds of thousands? And you never saw a penny of it. Well, here’s divine justice for the work at home entrepreneur – now, with your own business, you reap the rewards of your ideas and brilliance!

Work at Home Con #2

It’s all on you. Advertising, book keeping, accounting, marketing, typing, filing, decorating, cleaning. Every little aspect of your business rests on your shoulders. Of course when you’re established you can start farming some of that work out, or hire a part time assistant, but at start up, it’s all you baby.

Work at Home Pro #3

Flexible hours. Wow, no more shopping on Saturdays with the crowds. You can run errands at off times and work at home while everyone else is fighting traffic and long line ups. You get to decide your hours or days of the week you work. Personally I’m a night owl and like to work while the rest of the house is sleeping – it’s my most creative time – if you’re the same you’ll find you’re more productive when you work when you feel like work.

Work at Home Con #3

Dang. The other side of this is that when you’re running your own business, the work seems to never end. And sometimes, it feels as though all you do is work at home. When the garden is just outside the door, when the kids are swimming in the pool without you, when the laundry has piled up, you are forced to sit in your office and get the job done, meet the deadline or stay committed to the tasks you’ve assigned yourself.

Work at Home Pro #4

No lackey or boss to mess up or take credit for your hard work. If it’s a mess, you made it. If it’s a success you made it. There’s power in that, growth, and strength.

Work at Home Con #4

You’re alone. Either no one else is in the house, or you’ve managed to teach them all to leave you alone so you can get your work done. And eventually you find yourself lonely. There is no co-worker to grumble with, no one else involved in the business to bounce your ideas off of. There’s no one to talk to period! If you are a social butterfly, working at home likely won’t work for you. Some people just need constant interaction and when forced to go without it, they can become clinically depressed.

Work at Home Pro #5

No dress code, no suits and ties, no itchy panty hose in the summer! I know many of those work at home in your underwear advertisements are everywhere, but it’s really true! Many of us work in our sweats or pyjamas all day.

Work at Home Con #5

It becomes far too easy to get so involved in our work at home life that we forget to take care of ourselves. If you’re not mindful you may find you’ve convinced yourself that it’s okay to run to the store in those sweat pants and just throw a jacket over those pjs to drive the kids to school. Eventually all of this can turn into a lack of self esteem over our ‘professional’ look.

Work at Home Pro #6

No More Commuting! Getting to work and back every day is not only time consuming it’s costly! You can now keep that money in your pocket and work at home all those hours you used to waste commuting.

Work at Home Con #6

As wonderful as it may seem at first, you’re now working at home. Home. The place you’ve been used to coming to for relaxation and regrouping.

• And you may be taking up space with a home office that you don’t have.
• Or you may find yourself beginning to get very bored with always being at home.
• Or distracted by all the chores that could be done now that you are home (even though you’re supposed to be working).
• And finally, because you’re home, everyone thinks you are accessible to chat, phone, ask favors of, babysit, run errands for, and so on. It doesn’t matter if you’re a man or woman reading this – eventually people running a home based business will have to deal with people who are treating them like a stay-at-home housewife. This one has been my biggest challenge – I’ve learned to say NO, and NO, and NO a lot.

Well I’m done.

I’ve told you as many pros and cons of working at home that I can think of right now. If you have any of your own that you’d like to add let me know in a comment below.

And if you’re someone who is considering working from home, but you haven’t taken the plunge yet, don’t let my list of cons discourage you. If your dream is strong, at the end of the day, none of the negative aspects will ever sway you. You’ll love this life.

Remember that most of the entrepreneurs I’ve interviewed and spoken to told me that they only had one regret about working at home – that they hadn’t started sooner!

Laura Childs
Working at home and loving it (most of the time)!

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