The benefits of working from home

Having worked from home for well over thirty years I think I can honestly say I know a lot about the benefits to working from home. But to help people who are not already working from home to decide if this is for them I have written this article. It does not suit everyone and there are down sides to it, which I will talk about too.
If you are self employed and running your own business the major disadvantage is that you do not get holiday or sick pay and only get paid when you work, you also have expenses incurred by providing the business in the first place. This means that if you are not shrewd and do well you may end up working for free, or worse still running at a loss!
Rosemary Price the successful psychic says that there are two major disadvantages. That you are alone with only yourself to rely on. If you do not do things well the whole thing collapses. If you are lazy you earn nothing. If you make the wrong decisions you lose money and time. Finally, it can be very lonely as working from home usually means being isolated from others. Even if there are other people in the home you should be busy working and not talking to them. It is unlikely that you would have someone there with you working with you so you may get lonely and you should make sure that you regularly have breaks or go out but have an organised discipline of when you work and when you do not. People may try to take advantage of you working from home thinking that they can phone you for a long chat or pop in for a coffee and it is up to you to be firm and have set working hours so that it does not eat into the time you need to run your business.
But the many advantages look very inviting! Let us list them...
You choose which working hours suit you. Some people work evenings and weekends in their new business while they are getting it off the ground, working it around their "proper" paid job and then move it to daytime when they have established it and can give up their existing job, others decide that they prefer working just a few days a week and only working part time and stick to that, others work it around their existing commitments such as looking after their children. No longer do you have to ask your boss if you can come in a bit later or have a longer lunch hour or go on holiday.
Some people LOSE approximately four hours a day travelling to and from their place of work. That is time they could spend working and earning or relaxing and having a life. It adds up to ten hours a week, which is more than some people spending actually working. Think of what your hourly rate is for your work
and how much you could earn in that ten hours. It is possible for you to earn quite a substantial sum in that time or simply enjoy having that time at home.
You save the cost of travelling, whether this be a car and petrol, train, buses or whatever. It means you can maybe get rid of a car altogether, saving a lot more money, time and hassle. The amount of money you spend on getting to and from work can add up to 20% of your income after tax, quite a bit.
You can have your home comforts around you for even though you will be wise and have set times for working and set times for relaxing you need to know that when you have a coffee break or a lunch break you can walk into the kitchen, get a snack or a proper home cooked meal, have a quick flick of the television screen or a read of the newspaper or whatever turns you on. You can do some housework in between working shifts, have a bath, sit in the garden and sunbath or whatever takes your fancy.
It is safer! With regard to your own personal safety it is much safer to be working from home when it is dark and late when you would not be feeling safe if you work elsewhere and make that journey when it is late and date.
Your home is safer. Because you are at home a lot more it is far less likely that your home will be burgled. Your insurance premiums may be cheaper because you are there a lot more.
You can set up your business in any way that suits you. You are the boss, you make the decisions. You decide whether to do things in a certain way, how much to spend on marketing, sales, advertising or whatever else your expenditure covers. You decide how quickly you move forward or if you prefer to take things slower. You decide everything and you take the credit when it works out.
You reap the rewards of all of your hard work! When the money comes rolling in it is your money and you decide whether to invest it in the business, save it or spend it. The most important thing is that it is your decision and you do not share it with anyone unless you wish to. Even if you have staff and you pay them a salary you are the boss and get the majority. It is very annoying when you work for someone else, put in long hours and try very hard, and they walk away with the majority of the profit it brings in.
You take the credit when things go well. Your loved ones, colleagues and acquaintances can see that you are a useful member of society, shrewd, capable, hardworking and a problem solver. Sometimes people can be very capable but when they work for someone else their boss gets and takes the credit. Nobody can doubt your abilities when you stand on your own two feet and succeed.
You can decide if you want to expand and grow the business or keep it as small business. You might decide that your business is suitable to turn into a franchise or to have several branches. Your income then then increase too.
You decide your fate. You will not be called into a boss's office with the boss saying that you must move to a different branch where he expects you to move to the other side of the country, or change your shifts to fit in with company policy or new staff. If you like it where you are and you can make it work there then you stay put.
There are a lot of benefits of working from home. Depending on your situation there are probably more advantages to disadvantages. It also depends on how well organised you are. Whether working from home is suitable for you only YOU can decide. Whether you do not not may depend on your profession and how brave you are, but if you never try you will always wonder. By a leading life coach and agony aunt, at http://www.webclairvoyant.com.