Working from home certainly has its good points. Among them: No dress code, no commute and a better life/work balance. Then there are the bad points that few people consider when plunging into that perfect work at home job.
The Good Points
A major blessing to working from home is that you can work in whatever room you want, in whatever clothing you choose to wear, if any, and earn your income on your own schedule. Your environment is a comfort zone for you and you don't have to deal with annoying co-workers and the inevitable office politics of a conventional office.
Particularly if there are small children in your house, your life and work balance can be handled far better when working from home. You can feel that sense of achievement of earning a living while not going into panic mode whenever one of the kids gets sick or has a day off from school. Your schedule is flexible enough that you can take you or your kids to a doctor's appointment without having to tell anyone at work that you will be away for a few hours. For that matter, you can take the day off and hit the beach without making any excuses to anyone. You can play catch up later with your work when the kids are in bed for the night.
The Bad
Working out of your home means just that - working. You are not a stay at home parent or a person on permanent vacation. Your time is not your own if you hope to be successful at what you do, whether at home or in an office.
This is true because you do have to work to earn a living.
Lots of people will turn a deaf ear to the fact that you "work" from home and will ask you to babysit during the day or some other chore, because after all you are home. Neighbors and friends drop in for morning coffee and want to chat until afternoon tea. You will be invited to play dates and luncheons and all sorts of events that take place during a work day. No one will believe you when you tell them you can't make it because you work for a living.
You may have to get Caller ID on your phone so you know who is on the other end of the line before you pick up. Those are some of the external distractions a home worker is subject to. Then there are the numerous internal distractions.
There are kids, laundry, floor mopping, cats, dogs, ferrets and the broken window all vying for your attention. This makes it extremely hard to focus on your business and can leave you just as torn between family and work responsibilities as working in an office far away can do to you.
There is also the temptation when you are not working to get back to the laptop and check emails, clean up that report that has to be submitted to a client and many other work details that you can't stop thinking about. Your work is literally always with you if you let it be. There will always be days when everything goes awry. This happens whether you dress up, get in the car and commute to an office or whether you work at home. I want you to know that working from home is awesome. Just be sure you know what you are getting yourself into before you start.
