Are you looking forward to start working online at home but do not know how or where to start?
I will share my experience of being a stay-at-home mum who has made a solid income working from home.
Before I started working from home, there is a lot that I needed to figure out.
I did not know precisely what working from home meant, the kind of jobs I would do, and if I would make a decent income.
Perhaps you are in a similar situation, and I would like to make this journey a lot easier for you.
Read on to discover how I started working from home and how this has been beneficial to me.
1) What are remote jobs
The first thing you need to understand is what precisely remote jobs are. This way, you will know exactly what you will be getting yourself into – and this is what I did before I started working from home.
Remote jobs refer to jobs that you can do from a traditional office environment.
This means that you can work from your home, café, co-working space, restaurant, at a coffee shop, or even anywhere across the world.
When working from home, you will be doing these kinds of jobs. You do not necessarily have to be in the office of your employer or client.
Based on my own experience, you will probably never meet face to face with your client.
You could be hired to provide services such as virtual assistance, social media management, and writing, among others remotely.
2) Who can work from home
Anybody can become a freelancer.
What you need are a skill or skills to do a specific task. For instance, if you want to work from home as a writer, you should have writing skills.
The lack of skills should not scare you about working, however; you can always learn by taking up a course or training.
Another thing you will need is to have computer literacy skills. You will mainly work from your laptop or phone.
A reliable internet connection is also necessary as most communications with your clients or employers will take place online.
Working from home mainly entails searching for jobs online, pitching to clients, doing the work, and getting paid after delivering the expected outcomes.
If you are a writer, you need to identify online platforms or marketplaces like Upwork, where you can find writing gigs.
These platforms connect freelancers with clients. Once a client posts a job, you place a bid or pitch to them, and they can choose to hire you or not.
If you get hired, you will get paid via the platform through payment systems like PayPal.
3) Advantages of working At home
Working from home has several benefits that you would not enjoy in a 9 to 5 job, as discussed below.
i) Flexibility and work-life balance
The main benefit is that it provides a lot of flexibility and work-life balance. I can set my schedule and can work when I want.
We can all agree that being a mom and working at the same time is not easy. As much as you need to make money, you also need to look after your family.
Working from home has enabled me to take care of my three kids comfortably and still make money.
ii) You can work from anywhere
Another advantage of working from home is that you can work from anywhere. You do not need to commute to work daily and be confined to a specific work location.
I have managed to travel to different places around the globe as I work and make money.
To break the monotony of working from my house, I sometimes carry out my online jobs in a coffee shop.
As long as you can find an excellent environment to concentrate, you can do online jobs and deliver quality work.
iii) You save money and time
By working from home, I can save money and time. I do not need to spend money on gas commuting to work every day or spend a lot of time in traffic jams.
When at home, I also do not spend unnecessarily on activities like impulse buying.
iv) The ability to create a comfortable working environment
Creating a comfortable and lively working space is also a significant benefit of working from home. You can set up your office anywhere, furnish and arrange it the way you want.
Now and then, I put fresh flowers in my office because I appreciate the beauty and calm they bring. I am also able to play music to make my space livelier.
These are things that I would not have done in my previous office when I was employed.
v) Independence, discipline, and time management
Most importantly, working from home makes you more independent, disciplined, and a good time manager.
When you work from home, you become your boss in several ways. To begin with, you have to become good at what you do and work your way towards creating a decent income.
You must learn how to attract clients and retain them so that they can give you more jobs. This can only happen if you deliver value; you determine the amount of money you want to make.
Discipline is key. There are no managers or supervisors to push you around to work. You must deliver assignments to clients on time while ensuring that you have met the expected outcomes.
vi) Working from home is suitable for introverts
If you are an introvert who enjoys your own company, you will find working from home excellent. You do not have to work with noisy and nosy colleagues.
You are all by yourself at home and can entirely focus on yourself and what you want to achieve.
Those are some of the advantages of introverts working from home.
4) Disadvantages of working at home
Working from home is not all rosy. It comes with some disadvantages which you must find a way to deal with if you are determined to make money from home.
Here are some disadvantages of working from home based on my experience;
i) Distractions
One of the challenges that you will have to battle as a beginner working from home is distractions.
It gets more challenging, especially when you have little kids. When I started working from home, spending the whole day at home and working was not familiar to my kids.
They thought that I should pay attention to them as and when they need me, which would affect my ability to focus.
When working from home, you will realize that things need to be done- like fixing a broken sink, mowing the lone, rearranging your house, etc.
If you are not careful enough, you might spend a lot of time fixing such things when you are supposed to be working on a client’s job.
There are also family members, neighbors, and friends who want to pass by your house and have a chat with you just because you are at home.
There is nothing wrong with having social interactions.
However, if your friends keep on visiting you when you should be working, you might not be in a position to concentrate on your online work and deliver on time.
To avoid such distractions, I have made it clear to my family and friends about the kind of work I do, what it entails and what I expect of them.
It took some time for them to adapt to my new way of working, but they understand and give me the much-needed space and time to work with time.
ii) Burnout
To meet the expectations of your clients and reach your financial goals, you might experience burnout.
When I started working online, I knew that I had to create a profitable online business as a writer.
I wanted to establish solid working relationships with my clients so that they could keep coming back to give me more work.
While this was a great strategy to make more income, I found myself overworking; I would even work for 15 hours without taking meaningful breaks so that I could complete huge tasks with short deadlines.
This took a toll on my physical and mental health, and I had to create a schedule.
I set strict working hours and would communicate with my clients about setting realistic deadlines.
Burnouts are disastrous and can make you detest working from home. It is wise to allocate strict hours for working and the rest for doing other essential things.
iii) Lack of a community and social life
Working from home minimizes face-to-face interactions.
Most of the time, you will be communicating with clients online via zoom, email, skype, among other means. You will barely meet with the people you work with or for.
Since I started working online, I have not met most of my clients or employees. All interactions take place online.
These kinds of online interactions are necessary, but we are human beings who desire to talk and have one-on-one conversations with other people every so often.
Working from home hinders you from having one-on-one conversations and limiting your ability to build a community and build your social life.
It is perfect for introverts who thrive with their one company. However, if you are an extrovert, you might find this challenging.
Luckily, there is a way around this challenge. You can create time every once in a while to meet with friends.
When your business grows, and you have systems in place, you can organize vacations and meet with different people in your network.
iv) Lack of office equipment
When you are employed and working in your employer’s office, you can access almost all the equipment you need to deliver quality work.
You have a desk, comfortable chair, internet connection, printer, extra phone, camera, etc.; generally, a dedicated space for working.
However, when working from home, you might not have access to a complete office equipped with all the things you need.
As a beginner, you might find it expensive to equip your space with comfortable and quality equipment.
But all these limitations should not stop you from pursuing your goal of working from home. I advise that you only get the necessary equipment you need and can get more with time.
There is a significant difference between how my office was when I started and how it is now. It has taken time to get quality equipment and furniture
You should be patient enough and invest the money you make to create your desired working space.
Buying second-hand equipment in good condition is a great way to get started if you do not have enough money to buy new ones.
v) Motivational challenges
Like I mentioned earlier, when you work from home, there is no one to push you around to finish your job and meet deadlines.
The duty of being disciplined and motivated is entirely yours.
However, we are human beings who are like to feel demotivated, especially when things do not work out the way we want them to.
And feeling demotivated to work sometimes happens when working from home due to the lack of a community, colleagues, and employer.
It can also happen if you spend a lot of time searching for online jobs, but it takes too long to land one.
Unless you are determined at establishing a profitable business working from home, you might easily succumb to feeling demotivated.
To avoid or cope with motivational challenges, always have goals and a clear strategy to meet them.
You can also have an accountability partner with whom you share your experiences and encourage you to keep working even when challenging.
5) When do I quit my 9 to 5 job?
This is a common question that I always get from people who want to start working from home.
And I understand where they are coming from since I also struggled to quit my 9 to 5 job to become a work-at-home mom.
Quitting your job to start your own business is not an easy decision to make. There is a fear that you will lose your source of income, and your next venture might not be successful.
Here are a few tips that I have found helpful in quitting your job to start working from home.
Only quit your 9 to 5 job when you have done the following;
i) Determined why you want to quit
You must have a solid reason why you want to quit your job. In this case, you want to leave so that you can start working from home.
It would be wise to do a soul searching to know precisely why you want to work from the comfort of your home.
What exactly do you want to achieve? ; flexibility, being independent, changing your working routine, trying something new, making more money, etc.
Look at the advantages and disadvantages of working from home to determine if it would work for you.
ii) Acquired a skill and learned how to monetize it
Before you quit your job, you should also have acquired a skill and determined how you will make money out of it online.
Long before I quit my job, I had researched a lot about working from home just to know what I was getting myself into and if I would make a decent income.
I also took up training on writing and discovered how to write like a professional and search for clients and make money out of the same.
When I had sharpened my writing skills, I started doing freelance writing jobs as a side hustle for a few months.
My decision to quit my job and start working from home was validated when I began making $100k per month through writing.
I would advise you to determine precisely what you want to do, get the necessary skill, and monetize it part-time first.
This way, it will be apparent if working from home will be a good decision for you.
iii) Determined the adjustments you need to make
Working from home is different from working your 9 to 5 job.
You should determine how working from home will impact you and the changes you need to make in your life.
For instance, you will need to make some changes in how you earn and spend money since you are responsible for determining the amount of money you make every month.
6) Choose the type of online job you want
At this point, I am hoping that you have an idea of what working from home means and what it entails.
Next, let us talk about choosing the type of online job.
You need to choose the kind of job that you want to be doing. As I said, you do not need to have excellent skills in the beginning.
As long as you are passionate about a particular area, you can learn about it and start making money out of it.
Here are some newbie-friendly jobs that you can do online;
i) Virtual assistance (VA)
These online jobs involve supporting businesses by carrying out specific tasks for them. You could be hired to do admin jobs, bookkeeping, customer service, and so much more. I have covered how you can become a virtual assistant and the best VA jobs available online.
You can find virtual assistant jobs on Fiverr, Peopleperhour, Amazon, and LinkedIn.
ii) Proofreading
Proofreading involves going through written content and correcting the errors to ensure that the content is grammatically correct and legible.
Some of the best sites to find proofreading jobs include ProofreadingPal, Fiverr, Craigslist, and Flexjobs.
This course by Caitlin will help you get started and create a dependable source of income through proofreading.
iii) Transcription
Transcription involves converting content from audio format into written format.
You can newbie-friendly transcription jobs on Transcribe.com, Upwork, and GoTranscript.
iv) Online surveys
Online surveys involve researching various topics.
Inboxdollars, Pinecone Research, SurveyJunkie, Opinion Outpost, and Swagbucks are some of the best places to find online survey jobs.
v) Freelance writing
Freelance writing is also an excellent online job that you can do at home.
You can find freelance writing jobs on Upwork, Academia-Research, Textbroker, and Freelancewriting.com.
vi) Online tutoring
You can also work as an online tutor, teaching students across different parts of the world on a particular subject.
You could teach mathematics, science, engineering, languages, literature, history, and many other subjects.
There are so many online platforms offering online tutoring jobs. Some of them include Chegg, Magic Ears, Tutor.com and Teachaway.
v) Social media management
Social media management jobs are also newbie-friendly, and you can do them from the comfort of your home.
You can find social media management jobs on Freelancer.com and Upwork.
vi) Affiliate marketing
In affiliate marketing, you earn a commission every time a customer buys a product from the business you are promoting products for.
Upwork is one of the best places to find affiliate marketing jobs.
vii) Market research
If you love investigating various topics, you can do market research from the comfort of your home.
Companies will hire you to research and write reports on your findings.
You can find market research jobs on Escalent, Wonder, and IFF International.
Now that you have an idea of some of the jobs you can do online, let us discuss other essential things that you must do to make your experience working from home excellent.
7) Set up a functional work from home office or workspace
Online jobs require a lot of attention and research.
To entirely focus on the tasks that you are carrying out, you need to set up a functional workspace at home.
Your office should be in a quiet place.
You should also furnish it with a desk and chair that is comfortable. A bad chair might cause harm to your back.
In my own experience, I find well-conditioned spaces to be excellent for working from home. Invest in an air conditioner.
I have also found that bright spaces help me improve my mood and focus entirely on what I am doing.
8) Get a reliable internet connection
You need a reliable internet connection to work from home.
As I mentioned earlier, you will search for clients online and still communicate using online channels.
Most tasks will require you to research online. Investigate the best internet service providers in your location and buy internet from them.
9) Research and get training on your preferred remote job
As a newbie, there is a lot that you need to figure concerning the remote job that you want to do from home.
One of the things that I found helpful is researching the job you want to learn more about it.
There is a lot of free information online, on blogs, social media, and even YouTube. You can start by reading that information.
You can also get training from the experts; it could be one on one or through free online courses.
Training makes your work easier as everything you need to know and do has been outlined for you.
There are free courses and also ones that you will need to pay money to access information.
I would suggest that you identify experts in the area you want to specialize in and learn from them.
10) Prepare how you will get paid online
When working online, you will work with people from different parts of the world.
You need to figure out the different ways that they can pay you and prepare for it.
Some of the popular methods of online payments include PayPal, Skrill, Google Pay, Stripe, and Amazon Pay.
You will need to sign up for the different online payment gateways and set up an account to start using them.
11) Get your first online gig
The next important thing to do is get your first online gig.
I will admit to you that getting your first online job is not easy, but you can do things to land a job faster.
One of the things you need to do is market yourself. You can create a simple website indicating the kind of services you provide and how clients can reach you.
Also, take advantage of social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn to advertise yourself.
Once you land your first job, do it exceptionally well and meet the expectations of the client. This helps to retain customers, and you can also get referrals from customers who loved your work.
12) Use mobile applications that make work easier
By all means, find ways to make working online more manageable.
Mobile applications like Asana, Zoom, Slack, and Clockify will make it easy for you to manage your projects, communicate and manage your time.
These apps are also easy to use, and you can increase your productivity and efficiency by using them.
13) Connect with other freelancers in your field
If you want to make a profitable business working from home, it is wise to connect with other freelancers in your field.
This comes with a lot of benefits. These are people who understand what your job entails. It can always be exciting to talk to them, exchange ideas and motivate each other.
Such networks also come in handy to equip you with more skills.
You will find other people who have found better ways of being efficient and productive, and they will give you tips to make such achievements.
You can find these groups of freelancers on social media platforms like Facebook.
14) Get products that will make the working environment more favorable
You need a favorable environment to work, one you love, and enables you to focus entirely on your tasks.
There are so many ways to achieve such an environment. You can decorate the office with anything that makes you happy; it could be flowers, paintings, or antiques.
You could even have a couch for resting when you need some quiet time alone. I have found that having a particular theme for the office makes it more favorable to work in.
15) Allocate time for social activities
I mentioned earlier that working from home minimizes face-to-face interactions with family and friends.
You might also find it hard to hang out in your favorite restaurants and do outdoor activities that you love.
But you must find a way to maintain your social life as it is essential for your mental health.
Allocate time to do the things that you are passionate about.
Now and then, take nature walks, go swimming, do a long drive, organize a party, go for a vacation, and have fun.
Such activities will help you take a break from your daily routine and even help you feel reenergized to keep making more money online.
When starting, you might not figure out how to achieve a social life.
With time, however, you can create a strategy that works for you and can balance work and social life.
16) Minimize distractions
Minimize distractions to pay full attention to your work from home jobs.
Ensure that your office is not in your personal space. You can set it in the furthest corner of your house, where people do not meet or access it regularly.
Also, let your family members or roommates know about your work and how important it is not to demand your attention when working.
Your phone can also distract you. Ensure to log out of all the platforms that distract you, like social media.
You can also set it on silent mode to avoid checking on notifications often.
Stress and overthinking can also affect your concentration. Find a way to cope with stress. You can exercise or seek medical attention if it is severe.
Conclusion
The information that I have shared above is essential to help you start working from home and make a decent source of income doing remote jobs.
Remember that in as much as there are legit jobs to do from home, there are also scammers who can take advantage of your inexperience.
Always ensure that the platforms you are using to find remote jobs are legit. Legit platforms have established systems to avoid scammers.
If you get clients outside such platforms, you should do due diligence before committing to work for them.