After spending 40 mind-numbing hours each week on a job you can’t stand, the mystique of working from home could certainly start to draw you in. After all, working from home solves most of the problems you have with your current job.
If you’re thinking of making the switch, then read on for 11 reasons why you love (or hate) working from home.
1. You’re in charge of what you do. There’s no boss standing over you, making sure you’re working on that advertising project and aren’t playing solitaire instead. You can pick your own projects, so you’re always working on something you like. Best of all, you pick your own clients, so you can avoid people you just know you’re going to hate working with.
Then again, without that boss watching your every move, you may just play solitaire all day.
2. You can wear whatever you want. Pajamas with little unicorns on them? Great! Fuzzy slippers? Awesome! When you work from home, you can wear just about anything, so long as you don’t mind answering the door to accept a package in that dinosaur onesie.
Then again, it can get hard to get into “business mode” when you’re dressed like you’re at a teenage slumber party. If you start slacking, maybe it’s time to put on some pants.
3. There’s no limit to how much you can make. When you work at a traditional job, you have to beg and plead for just a $0.25 per-hour raise. When you work from home, it’s a lot easier to make more money. Add on a new client or raise your rates.
Then again, there’s no limit to how little you can make. You don’t have the benefit of “base pay.” Slow months happen, and so do emergency packets of cheap ramen noodles.
4. There’s no commute! Unless you consider walking 30 feet from your bedroom to your desk a “commute.” You no longer have to sit through mind-numbing traffic or try to avoid the weird dude on the bus who smells like onions.
Then again, without a commute bookending your work day, it can get hard to get into the headspace for work. And, if you’re a workaholic, you might find it hard to stop for dinner–or sleep.
5. You set your own schedule. Not a morning person? Then sleep in and start your workday at 11 AM. Need to work within your children’s school schedule? Not a problem!
Then again, time is just another obstacle you have to wrestle with if you’re not feeling motivated. No one is making you work, after all. Although the company you work for might try to increase your productivity by implementing an attendance management system to track your working hours
6. You can live anywhere. Most people who work from home only need Internet access and a semi-decent computer to get the job done. Heck, you can get that just about anywhere! Bora Bora, here you come.
Then again, just because you can live anywhere, doesn’t mean you will. For most, that nomadic lifestyle is just a pipe dream.
7. You get to avoid annoying coworkers. Jan in payroll? She’s the worst. So is Danny, who has no concept of personal space–or deodorant. But, now that you work from home, you can avoid them all.
Then again, now you don’t see anyone. If you’re not careful, you could go days without talking to a single person in real life. That’s unhealthy. If you go the work-from-home route, make sure you actually see real living people on a regular basis.
8. You won’t get distracted by pointless meetings. Do you really need a meeting on the company’s change from yellow sticky notes to blue? No. Luckily, no inane timewasters from your boss when you’re working from home.
Then again, you might get distracted by other things. Facebook is calling to you, isn’t it?
9. Mini-breaks in the day are no problem. Need to go to the bank? You can do that during the day. Just take a break! Same goes from grocery shopping trips, doctor’s appointments and extra-long lunches with friends.
Then again, there’s always that well-meaning friend that thinks you can drop everything to watch her toddler for a few hours since you don’t have a “real job.”
10. You get some nifty tax breaks. Have a room in your house that is now your official office? Guess what, you can claim it on your US taxes. You can even claim any business expenses, including business lunches. Score!
Then again, gone are the days where you could fill out a simple income tax form in half an hour. Now you have to worry about claiming those business expenses and counting the business-related milage on your car. Better start looking for a good accountant now…
11. You’ll feel great about yourself. You’re a business owner! It takes a lot of guts and a lot of hard work to do what you’re doing. Not everyone can work from home. Most people need a boss to tell them what to do. But not you! You’re your own boss!
Then again, some people might try to get you down. Like the afforementioned friend, there’s a good chance that there will be people in your life that don’t understand your career choice. They might think you spend your whole day playing video games.
Well, screw ’em. You’re doing just fine.