Why YOU should Be Proud Of wORK from Home Job

If you work from home or are having a home based business; it can be a great thing and if anyone discouraged you, they are WRONG, and here’s why.

In today’s scenario there are a lot of unconventional fields and a career options. Also with the ever increasing penetration of the internet, the office space has extended to the homes of the individuals and businesses are being carried at the click of a button and around the world; at times even without meeting clients face to face. Work from home opportunities are more than ever. With all this there are lot of genuine ways to earn some money without actually having to go to an ‘office’ or sitting in a cubicle.

Also, while the economy is slowly crawling back to normalcy, the past few years seem to have taught the companies that contractual ‘labour’ is more profitable and hence there are more jobs that are project and contract based, leading to a lot of people spending a few months off the pay-roll or having to do the work from home and only visit their offices for presentations, submission etc. There are also a lot of business opportunities that are mainlyhome based businesses and lot of people, especially new moms or even dads, wanting to be around their babies’ growing up; are opting for. There are lot of jobs like writing, designing, online marketing, legitimate MLM companies, insurance agency etc, that are providing genuine opportunities to work from home or have a home based business. Also there is a spurt inEntrepreneurship and lot of young and old professionals boot-strap and hence cannot invest in a separate office space to run their business, at least while they are starting off, and this leads to them making their home as their office.

Whatever the case maybe, if you too are working from home or running a home based business, you will know that it requires hard work and dedication to do what you are doing and earn a living out of it. In fact work from home requires more focus and hard work compared to working in an office, since there is that comfort level of your home and there are too many distractions to fight to meet the deadlines, handle the household responsibilities as well as handle clients, and make sure that the money is good enough to meet the monthly expenses. All in all you are no less hard working, dedicated and focussed than your office going counterparts. So why be ashamed or look down on it?

There are often people around, friends, relatives, who keep insisting to take up a job and their words are “this won’t last long, you need something stable and long term… take a job, even if it pays a little less, you will grow in sometime…..”. There are individuals, men and women, who are bloggers, entrepreneurs, writers, designers or are running a small business from home, who earn handsomely and at times more than what their previous day jobs used to pay; so why is it so bad? I mean, what is the guarantee that the “Stable Job” will actually be a “Long Term” one? There are even large multinationals cutting costs and cutting jobs so who is to say that a job in a good company is going to see you through in life? As long as you are sincere in your efforts, hard working and focussed on the end goal, money will come. And even if you have an irregular income, you can still plan ahead and make your money grow even on an irregular income. All it needs is a bit of planning. So if anyone tells you that work from home is not the way to go, just give them a smile.

There is no shame in a work from home job or running a home based business irrespective of whether or not you are a Man or a Lady. If you are a work at home dad watching your baby grow, while still being able to take care of the financials; my friend what else you need in life. Those moments won’t come back and once kids grow up, they have their own lives. Same goes for the mothers, but for Dad’s mainly because if a man sits at home he is looked down upon by people who do not understand a thing about what kind of work he is doing. This even happens for single male entrepreneurs working from home. Their family will often say “…son take up a job, who will want to marry a man who sits at home…” It is really sad since for a lot of us, theNature of Work does NOT matter so much as the Place of Work does and even that is attached to social status. There are people stuck in boring and bland jobs that they do not enjoy but are happy that their office space has these ‘facilities’ and what a great big office they go to. It is a sad mindset; which is best ignored.

All in all, if you are a man or a woman, and are working from home or having a home based business and starting off, the money will be less and people will be more who will try to distract you, deter you, but if you are sure to work hard and be sincere in your efforts, trust me, money comes. As long as the work is genuine and money is fair and legal and you pay your taxes, there is no reason to be deterred by detractors or “well-wishers” who in their most polite words are trying to dissuade you from your work, as long as you are sure of what you want. I always keep a quote from the actor Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes fame) in mind. He said “Listen, smile, agree, and then do whatever the ‘#@*&’ you were gonna do anyway.”

DIFFERNCE BETWEEN JOB CHANGES AND CAREER CHANGE

Job is something that pays for your work and that in turn helps to pay your bills. Whereas a Career is a domain/profession/industry within which you take up such jobs. Jobs are part of a career. Career is simply a series of jobs in a particular domain.

Job defines your occupation; Career defines your Profession:

If you are a doctor, it not your job; it is your Profession, right? Your job is where you are a doctor or simply put for example you are a private practitioner then you work as a private practitioner, which is your job. Or similarly if you are a doctor with say a Government Hospital then your job is that of a Government Doctor. In any case, on a larger scale your profession is that of a Doctor; that is your career and not just a job. This is applicable to any field or qualification from engineer to handyman, from programmers to data-entry operators, from architect to workers, everyone. Job is what you do, Career is what defines you. It is like Batman – his job is to save the city from crimes that range from petty theft to large-scale terror attacks; but his career is that of Gotham City’s Protector; that is what defines him, Gotham’s Protector.

Impact of a Job change is minimal compared to a Career change:

While lot of people spend sleepless nights over changing jobs from one company to another, in the long run the impact of a job change can be salary or worst case the company may shut down and you would be looking for a new job again. That is important, however, the effects are not as long term as that of a career change. In a career change, you will be starting from scratch, while in a job change you will atleast have the same skill-sets to fall back on that you acquired in the course of your last jobs. In a career change the learning curve would start all over again and in most cases you would be again starting to work your way up the ladder of growth.

People know you by your Job but Remember you for your Career:

Job will make money for you to make your ends meet or take of your expenses and pay the bills and one day make you rich. But it is all depended on your profession in which you take up a job. You will change jobs and take new ones and this whole chain of jobs and employment will be part of your Career, it will be your identity beyond a point. While you are working you will be known by your designation, say that of a General Manager or Manager or Vice President and so on, but you will be known by your profession as a whole like if you were in a pharma company you will be known as yes, you were in the Pharma sector or in the Railways or Bank or whatever your industry was. That is your identity and this is what your career gives you.

Job change will only need training for new place of work; Career change will require training for whole new profession:

When you change a job you will need acclimatising to the new work environment, work culture and people. Your skills still are the same, and the most you need to hone them better and improve on them. However when you talk about a career change it changes everything that changes in a job plus the requirement of your skill set and the experience you have becomes less important to an extent. Yes at times in a related industry certain experiences and skills overlap, but in most cases the learning curve starts again.

Remember, career is a way broader term than a job. Never mistake a Career change as being a mere change of job since career change has its own challenges.

8 Reasons Why starting a Business may not suit you?

With so many people taking the plunge towards starting their own business, it is a good time to ask yourself; are you suitable for business? Or will starting a business suit you? It may not for the following reasons.

Just walk around and meet a few friends you haven’t been in touch with for a while or meet random group of youngsters and ask what you plan to do for future, and out comes the reply; “start my own business“. It is a great trend that goes to show the confidence they have in themselves and also the lack of really good jobs. Corporate jobs are monotonous and any other job apart from that and the society thinks you are just not good enough. Also the current state of economy has contributed to job losses and hence people feel the need to do something wherein they are dependent on themselves rather than jobs. Whatever your reason, you need to ask yourself whether starting a business will suits you?

The reason why I am posting this here is because, ultimately job or business will be the source of your income to meet all your goals in life, and hence this decision becomes vital from the financial perspective.

Don’t get me wrong, I am all for independent, out-of-the-box thinking or at least a venture wherein you are your own boss. I mean come on, you have one life to live, and how long will you keep listening to your boss and take orders! But just let me warn you that maybe, just maybe starting a business may not suit you, and hence if you take the plunge, consider the following factors:

1. It will take most of your time:

When your business is new it will need your time and attention and hence will leave you very little time for yourself in the initial years. While you can afford to not give time to yourself, if you have commitments or relationships to take care of, then starting a business may not suit you unless you make some major changes to your schedule.

2. It can be lonely:

If you are on the entrepreneurial route chances are you will get in touch with people who are sailing in the same boat and discuss the pros and cons, exchange tips, and learn a lot in the process. However that can be just superficial and the actual bond you had with your work colleagues or friends, when you had the time to meet up and hang out will be gone. Also the other factor is you are the one responsible for what you are doing and hence at times it is just you with a set of problems, you can’t put the blame on anyone else. Agreed the challenges can definitely get the best out of you, but it can be pretty lonely too.

3. You will NOT get rich quickly:

If you think that taking the plunge to be an entrepreneur is purely because you think you will mint money, let me tell you, not everyone is a Mark Zuckerberg or Sabeer Bhatia to make a product and get set for life. Again in their case, their initial dedication and hard work did play a big role. The other thing was Facebook and Hotmail had something new and revolutionary in it that clicked. You need to keep this in mind before wanting to start your own business. Your income will take time and you will need a lot of patience.

4. Your finances will take a beating:

While in a job you would have been used to the monthly SMS from your bank stating ‘your salary has been credited to your account’. This will go away for a long time once you start your own venture. Businesses take time to settle and hence the flow of money will be disturbed. Be prepared to cut down costs and manage money better, since your finances will be in a tizzy. If you have a sound family financial backup wherein at least your kitchen keeps running irrespective of your income, then maybe it won’t matter to you, but if you are the only one earning and without any substantial savings to sustain your family needs, you may feel that starting a business may not suit you.

5. Family and friends may not be that understanding:

As mentioned above, starting a business will take most of your time and energy and at the same time may not show any returns for quite some time. All this may not go down well with family or friends and they may think it is a wrong decision you took. You need to be able to convince them in such a case and show why you have so much faith in your venture. If you can do so then things can be a lot smoother, if not then you may just feel thatentrepreneurial fad is not for you.

6. You may not be able to sustain by following your passion:

At times people often think of entrepreneurship mainly because they wish to follow their passion. However they should understand one thing that the success of a business is ultimately based on demand and supply and if you cannot create enough demand for the service or product you are supplying, you may not sustain. Hence, while following a passion is good, think over it, whether the kind of venture you are getting into will generate enough demand for you to justify taking this step or will it just backfire.

7. You may still not be your own boss:

The most common reasoning to be an entrepreneur is the theory that “I am my own Boss”, actually you are not. Your customers will become your new boss over time and while you are the decision maker on how to serve your customers, still you are not entirely your own boss. Yes of course at times it is much easier to plan holidays or take the day off or plan your schedule accordingly, but then again you cannot keep doing it all the time.

8. You compete globally:

Today you are in a global era. You are not just in your own country. A new idea that you may come up with, would already be there in the foreign countries and they may slowly expand and enter your markets and increase competition. In certain sectors there is already overflowing competition, and hence if you cannot find that particular niche that may work for you, you may soon find yourself back in the same rat-race that you thought of escaping by giving up your job.

Don’t get me wrong, I am all for entrepreneurship, however at times you need to remember certain factors and sometimes you need to understand why starting a business may not work for you, in order to avoid hassles and stress later or letting the thought crop in that you took a wrong decision. Keep the above factors in mind and work to eliminate those deterrents and then by all means take plunge.