Commuting to work every day is time consuming. Working in an office – in the same cubicle doing the same job every day for years is stressful. Working with supervisors breathing down your neck and being evaluated hourly or daily also takes a toll on how much you enjoy your work. Most people do not like their jobs, that’s the truth, especially if they have to go to work every morning and come back tired late in the evening. Most dream of working at home, at their own schedule, doing what they love and spend more time with their families. But are work at home jobs for everyone? Certainly not. How do you know work at home jobs are not for you? Well, if you possess the traits below, forget starting or prospering working at home.
You are easily distracted
Some people have a hard time staying focused on what they are doing. A few minutes of working and their minds drift off to doing something else. In this age of social media, with so many friends on Facebook and thousands of cat videos on YouTube, it is very easy to get distracted. If you cannot resist such distractions, then you may not be the perfect candidate to work from home since you will need to regulate yourself and stay on task despite all the temptations.
You lack the technology or skills
In order to work from home, especially online, you must have the technological know-how to operate and work from a computer, you must have the computer and other equipment, and most of all, you must have a reliable internet connection. If the kind of job you do requires a special equipment, then unless you have it, you may not be able to work.
You cannot work without close supervision
To succeed working at home, you will have to be your own supervisor. You will need to make your own schedule and set your own goals to beat. Even when you are employed and work offsite, chances are that you will be free to manage your time and work. People who need someone to breath down their necks to work never make good work at home employees or freelance workers and are better off with their 9 to 5 jobs.
You must be there in person to do the work
There are some jobs you cannot do from home. Take for instance hardware repairs. If this is your career or this is what you love, there is no practical way for you to work from home. Many jobs today can be done over the internet but some require workers to be onsite in person to work.
You do not have a good work environment
Just like in 9 to 5 jobs, success working is largely dependent on your work environment. Your performance will be better if you have a quiet, private and dedicated work environment. If you have kids at home that you cannot control or depend on public places such as parks and coffee shops or an environment you are not comfortable in, work at home may not be the right career path for you.
Based on these 5 core traits, do you think you can succeed as a work at home employee or freelancer?