Working From Home

[weeker2014]

Hi All

Just wondered what all your thoughts were around home working? Good and bad experiences!

[susie]

I've been working from home for 35 years. I'm a self-employed farmer. I had other jobs working for other folk before and during the farm. Unless you are very good at being strict with yourself with regard to keeping your work hours and always finishing things on time, then I would say you should do your job at work. Self-discipline takes a long time to get used to, you have to stick to a sound list of priorities and make others at home respect your work time (in reality they won't). If you will be self-employed as well then that brings a whole new set of problems and things to get to grips with. Don't know if this is much help but I can expand if you like.

[richardj]

weeker2014 - Susie sums it up, you need a lot of self-discipline to work at home - walking the dogs, going to get "something from the shops" etc. is often more interesting than doing the work that brings in the money. But many people now work successfully from home and you may also just love doing it.

One thing to be careful about is not to jump in to all (or any) of the work at home schemes found on the Internet or advertised in newspapers - often you will end up paying money to join the scheme and find that there is very little income or any coming back. Probably the best way to work at home is to develop your own business built on skills you already have, and to develop it part-time while in employment. This way you can make the transition from working for an employer who pays the wages, pays the tax and National Insurance on your behalf and probably also contributes to your pension fund to a business where you need to do all that yourself. Ok with a good business plan and a good idea you may end up earning more being self-employed but not always.

Working at home can be great and with broadband Internet you may be able to develop a business that allows you to live in the remoter areas of the north of Scotland without the daily commute to work. You do need to consider having enough space in your home to do whatever work you are planning on - even a computer needs space to be used in properly, not surrounded by kids or other adults (or animals) wanting attention.

Another thing to consider is if your existing employer and job is suitable for home working then discuss it with them and possibly work 2-3 days from home, the rest in the office to see if it suits both yourself and your employer. In this way you can get the best of both worlds - a pay cheque every month without the worry - and your employer maybe gets a more flexible work times out of you and more office space!

[sassylass]

Mr. Sassy works from home when he is not away on business trips. He is very disciplined and focused and works more than the usual 8 which benefits his employer and our bank account. Many bonuses include flex time (he can stroll through for coffee whenever he likes), saved time and money (because of no commute), someone is always home (for deliveries or whatnot), less interruptions from colleagues (I leave him to it). We actually see more of each other since he moved his office home and his stress level is down. The key to it is self discipline.

[Bobinovich]

Can't argue with all the above! Self discipline is paramount, but the flexibility and feeling of self-accomplishment more than make up for it, plus, if you're really lucky & love what you do, never experiencing the Monday morning blues again makes for a huge bonus in terms of emotional well-being :D

[Ballymore]

Are there any jobs available for working from home when you have an unreliable and slow broadband (if that is required)?

[mi16]

farming perhaps
telesales
stuffing envelopes

[Kodiak]

Sell Stuff on eBay, lots of folk make money doing that.

[cazmanian_minx]

I sell things on eBay and I also do freelance audio transcription for a company in London - they're always looking for new people if there are any fast typists reading. http://careers.takenotetyping.com/ (I don't get any kind of referral fee, so hope it's okay to post the link).

[picturegifts]

I have also worked from home for over 10 years doing admin / audio transcription work. Broadband speed isn't important as long as I can download and upload my files, the actual work I do isn't done on-line.