Working at Home Becomes Increasingly Attractive

Working at Home Becomes Increasingly Attractive.

By Angela Baca

On October 22, 2008, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on the status of mass layoffs.

For the months of January to September 2008, BLS reported: “layoff events, at 14,811, were the highest since 2003; related initial claims, at 1,510,446, were the highest since 2002.”

With rising layoffs and a sour economy, consider the work-at-home (WAH) lifestyle. It is becoming more attractive as a form of employment.

If you are ready to try WAH, here are some tips to ease your transition:

1. Making a gradual transition.
Working at home might not be something you can jump right into by quitting your job. Use your spare time to conduct WAH job research. When you find a decent opportunity, try WAH employment on for size.

2. Establish a routine.
Whether you work on Saturday mornings or Monday afternoons, you need a routine to work effectively. One option is to record work times for a week and look for a trend.

What time periods produce your best performance? If you don’t have an optimum time, then use a pragmatic approach to scheduling your work time, like working around school drop-off and pickup times.

3. Write a business plan.
Not every type of WAH employment requires a business plan. You can modify a business plan into a WAH plan.

Here are some recommended factors to analyze: how many hours a week you need to work, what wages you will be paid for each hour of work or per work product, how you will track your income and calculate your taxes, and how you will expand your home employment over time.

4. Find a stimulating forum.
If you leave the workplace, you risk losing touch with market trends for your profession. Join a WAH forum or an online forum for similar professionals so that you can exchange ideas and supplement your market knowledge.

Working at home offers freedom from working for a boss.

WAH also requires good judgment and planning.

Using a logical approach to WAH will help you to stay on track and meet your goals.

Keep in mind that WAH earnings are also affected by economic problems just like mass layoffs.