Advantages and Disadvantages of Working from Home
There are 3 main categories of working from home, increasing in scale in terms of flexibility, income potential and risk! You can begin working for someone else and start your own business when you have more time, confidence and money, or you can just jump straight onto the entrepreneur route and run your own business.
As the illustration shows, you can increase your income as you move from telecommuting to freelance to entrepreneur. You should take this as a general guideline however as there are many variables:
- While it is true that the majority of telecommute jobs will be in customer service or administrative type roles, many companies offer high salaries to some employees who can work from home as consultants, analysts etc.
- If you have a telecommute job with one employer, you can freelance at the same to boost your income.
- Freelancing starts off with lower income when you are starting out because you have to build up your client base. However, successful freelancers can earn impressive amounts of money once they are established.
- A freelancer can also be an entrepreneur if they have to hire people to help them when they have too much work to do themselves. They can also freelance and run a business at the same time.
- An entrepreneur can be dirt poor! Running a business, whether offline or online, does not guarantee a high income, however it does have the potential to make more money than telecommuting or freelancing.
Some people make a conscious choice to leave their current job and start working from home or building up a business from home. The majority of people who really need the option of working from home are probably not in the position to make this choice from a place of security. They will be looking for a way to work from home for a wide variety of reasons, often with a tinge of desperation. That is dangerous.
The need to find a way to make money quickly can lead you to make stupid decisions. You might spend lots of money on high cost programs that promise to make you lots of money. You might invest in stock, software or outsourcing because you have an idea that just can not fail – until it does. You get the idea.
One of the reasons for this is that it can take time to establish yourself working from home. It is not like walking into a regular job and knowing exactly how much you will get at the end of the month.
So it is very important you take as much time as you can choosing the right option for your current situation – you can always change it later! Let’s take a look at some advantages and disadvantages of working from home:
Advantages
| Telecommuting | Freelancing | Entrepreneur |
| Fixed hours Guaranteed income May offer benefits | Freedom to choose your hours Possibility of increasing income You choose who you work with | In control of business Higher income potential Passive income |
Disadvantages
| Telecommuting | Freelancing | Entrepreneur |
| Lower pay if no experience Fixed hours Limited options | Have to fight for clients Variable income Work can take over home life | May require investment Higher risk Higher stress levels |
Again, I want you to take this as a guideline only because depending on your personality and your current situation these advantages and disadvantages can mean different things. When you start out, the thought of having to sell something to people could leave you a jabbering wreck who feels like you are bothering people (that was me!). However, after a while you might get your confidence and realise you are just giving people an option they can say yes or no to.
Be kind to yourself and don’t do more than you can reasonably manage. The last thing you need is more stress. If you have to do some low paid gigs to get your confidence, do it. Just don´t stay at the bottom of the pile forever. Take it for what it is, experience to get you on to the next step.
