Many people like to end one year by planning the next. For some people, that planning will include a resolution to work from home. But if making a goal was enough, many more people would be happily working at home. Earning a living from a home office isn’t rocket science. It’s not hard and doesn’t require super-human strength. It’s simple, but not always easy. It takes time, research, planning, work, belief, persistence, work, commitment, faith, work and more work… You get the point. Reaching Work-At-Home Success requires much of the same effort as reaching any goal whether it’s to lose weight, quit smoking or learn a new language. You won’t search online today and work-at-home tomorrow.
The first step to work-at-home success is becoming clear about what you want. That doesn’t mean you need to know exactly what you plan to do at home, but you need to know what you want from working at home. Few people grow up with a goal to work at home. Instead, working at home is a means to another end. Maybe you’re a mom who wants to be home with the kids. Maybe you’ve been laid off and want control over your career destiny. Maybe you’ve always struggled working for someone else and want to be your own boss. Maybe you want a career that allows you the freedom and flexibility to work where and when you want whether its in Italy, Hawaii or Timbuktu. These are your goals and working at home is simply the vehicle that can help you achieve it.
This distinction is important because your goal (i.e. staying home with kids) is also the fuel that will keep you motivated when things don’t go as planned. In working at home, as in life, stuff happens. Most people don’t succeed at working at home because they give up when the going gets hard. But if your goal is something you REALLY want, it will keep you working through frustration, disappointment and failures that are a part of working at home.
I know it sounds negative to say achieving work-at-home success will be hard, but I’m hear to tell you the truth. Anyone that says for a few bucks and an hour a day you can be rich is selling you a scam. That’s not to say that working at home isn’t fun or fulfilling, because it is. But part of the thrill is that it’s a roller coaster ride of ups, downs and twists and turns. To stay on the ride, you need a big goal.
So, what do you want that working at home will provide? Write it down. Take a picture of it. Keep it at your desk and foremost in your mind, especially during the trying the times.
