Telecommuting and Freelancing – The Essentials to Know Before You Consider a Home-Based or Online Career
Date posted: 2006-09-14
It’s never been easier to accomplish a career that offers you job flexibility, open-ended time schedule and self-setting your professional goals. The Internet has spawned thousands of telecommuting job providers and freelance recruiting databases that are ready to meet home-based employees with companies in need of one-time or ongoing project management.
Work-from-home opportunities are just around the corner, and you should always be able to find something that matches your experience or interests. You must have heard relatives or friends talk about the benefits of your comfortable abode as a background for home-office activities. However, you might have also encountered online testimonials that pledge amazing promises of quick fortunes and instant earnings that may sound quite out of reach. To learn how to avoid scam work-at-home schemes, read Work-from-Home Success Stories - Are Testimonials Telling You the Real Story?
What Home-Based Career is Right for You?
Telecommuting, freelancing, or self-employing in your home business? That’s the first thing you should figure out before considering any other work-at-home issues. There are essentially differences among the three types of work-from-home opportunities, and each has its advantages and specifics you need to weigh against your current career and future goals.
Telecommuting
Telecommuting allows you to work from home, also on your existing contract with a company. Even though you might have been employed for full-time office work, you might suggest to your boss to complete part of your tasks from home and report online. Telecommuting gives you the advantage that you can still enjoy company benefits, health insurance and other perks. Telecommuters have greater freedom in setting their time schedule, spending time with their families, and taking their workload in chunks that they feel most comfortable with. Besides, telecommuting does not necessarily disconnect you from the office environment and your colleagues – you can always return to the office for project pitches, when you need more social contacts, or simply for variety. Telecommuters also reduce dramatically their expenses for expensive business attire, transportation, and lunch menus. Also, telecommuting saves you time by eliminating the need to travel two or three hours to work. You can start your day in your soft robe, with a cup of steamy cappuccino in front of your home computer.
Freelancing
Freelancing is a quick and efficient way for all sorts of expertise to be easily obtained by people, who need anything from written content, custom web design, software application development, financial and legal advice, business counseling, investment tips and more. Freelancers enjoy greater freedom to choose from temporary employment contracts or self-employment projects. Freelance auctions offer numerous opportunities for writers, web developers, SEOs and many others to find projects and bid their prices. Freelancing also allows completely moving your office online, and choosing your workload and scheduling independently. However, operating with a greater degree of freedom has its costs. Unlike telecommuting, freelancing also incurs certain costs for self-insurance expenses, taxes, self-training, technical equipment, etc. You should consider these before embarking on an online freelance career.
Home-Based Business
You can start your self-employment career by setting up your own home-based business. Whether you create art postcards, knit trendy ponchos, share cute cat pictures, or want to share your unique cooking recipes, you can set-up a website and sell your product or service online. As any other business, your home-based venture will also require at least a simple business plan with set-up cost estimates and good consideration of the workspace, work conditions (noise, light, hardware), and the family support you will need. Turning your home into a permanent office may be more entangling than you initially think, especially when you share it with others. Home-businesses are now among the most profitable and independent ways to accomplish a satisfying career and decent income. Your personal qualities – concentration and time management abilities, organization skills and motivation, as well as the ability to work a flexible job under pressure while doing all the other home stuff (cooking, repairs, child-raising), will be crucial for a successful home-based business.
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