5 Common Myths About Working From Home

Written by imoney

With the rapid developments on the internet, online jobs are increasingly becoming the mainstream in the job market. This is in part thanks to the fact that global corporations (and even smaller ones) frequently outsource their work to countries that gives competitive quality minus the cost. And with increasing internet speeds, the Philippines have become a hotspot.

You will often hear anecdotes from your friends about someone who’s left their full time job and has had immense success with an online career. Or probably you have a friend who became a full-time blogger. Before you start nodding your head in agreement, here are the five common myths I had about online jobs:

You’ll have way more free time

This is likely to be the first thing you’ll hear, but it couldn’t be further from the truth. The fact is, you’ll be taking on multiple projects in order to make the same amount of money you used to in your full time job. There’s also an increased tendency to work outside regular hours to complete jobs so putting in weekends and late nights can become a norm.

Although work hours are flexible it entails work load that can make any flexible anytime look the same as a regular day job, instead of keying hours, you get paid by your output and its quality. This means that you’ll need to have extreme discipline in managing your time to avoid having less free time than you had to begin with.

You can work and get errands done at the same time

The whole point of an online job is so you can work from home, and since you’re at home, you can probably get your home errands done at the same time right? Well, not really. Many online jobs are still demanding and require your full attention in order to get done on time, so it’s not very likely that you’ll be able to work and perform your errands/chores at the same time. Unless of course you’re willing to work outside regular hours, in which case refer to point #1 or you are a natural multi-tasker.

Most online jobs like being a writer or a freelance IT guy requires you to be in complete concentration to finish your output and technically doing errands at the same time will not make your work any better.

You can work in your underwear!

If you’re required to have web meetings in one form or another you definitely can’t (though you could probably get away with no pants). However, working in your pyjamas or underwear will definitely not work for you. It’s extremely important that you keep the same regimen you had at your full time job. Getting up, cleaning up and getting dressed will help put you in the right frame of mind to work. Staying in your sleepwear has the tendency to put you right back to bed.

People who have done online work are most likely using this pitch to entice you to jump-in the industry, nothing is wrong with this, but on the plus side, if a client requires an emergency video call you’ll always look good for them!

Work from anywhere in your house

Everyone pictures working from home as waking up, staying in bed, and popping up the laptop to start your day. While looking comfortable and questionably productive, this really won’t work out very well for you for the long hours needed. It also doesn’t work well for your overall alertness and concentration. If you think the couch is a better idea and you have kids around the house, the constant noise from them or the TV won’t help you either.

The human body is so intelligent and it loves familiarity, if you are working at home for quite a while, working in the bed might work for you, but if you are just starting out, you will need to work in an environment you are used to. Just like in your previous job, a workstation is important. It’ll help keep you focused and organized so you can get your jobs done on time.

You’ll get to Facebook all day while working!

Since you’ll have no one looking over your shoulder, you should be good to keep your social networking sites open. Yes, this can happen, but you’ll need to be very careful about it. These jobs still need to get done on time and just like a regular job, if you’re not working on it now, you’ll end up working on it later. This goes back to point #1.

It can get lonely working at home and you may crave some social interaction which is why you’ll still have your Facebook account open but you’ll need to discipline yourself to not get sidetracked too easily. On top of that, since you’ll be billing your clients by the hour sending them a screen grab of your work and accidentally having those FB tabs open won’t reflect too well for yourself!

Working entirely online doesn’t seem as easy as it sounds now does it? That doesn’t mean it can’t work out well for you. You will just need to be aware that it won’t be a walk in the park and can actually get quite tricky if you don’t manage your time or your distractions well

If it’s still something that you’re keen on, here are a few websites that will help you get started. Try one or two out first to see if it’s for you. Once you get the hang of it, go ahead and take the plunge. Working entirely online can be very promising so long as you manage the challenges that come with it as well!

Enabling everyone to communicate better with the aid of small box is what the beauty of the internet is all about, you can send a message from the Philippines to England less than seconds. With these advantages, it will soon be a connected world, making online jobs the trend of today’s market, greater competition as soon as everyone is connected.