Working from home offers a certain set of advantages that’s difficult in other vocations. The freedom of not being coerced to wake up at a certain time to run to office, spend so little of your time in the home you spent 80 to 90% of your savings in is the reality for millions.
Earning money while in the comfort of your own home is a dream come true.
And yet the dream has its own set of thorns. If you work from, especially in India, people are quick to judge you and not in a good way. The situation isn’t any different from when I started freelancing and blogging back in 2010.
Eyes full of skepticism stared at me back then and today. I know full well the troubles you’ve got yourself into.
But there’s nothing to be ashamed of in a home-based job. You’re earning and you’re earning after an honest’s days work. Why let others’ insecurities pile on to you?
Lots of research and surveys are predicting a sea change in the way people are going to work. Not only is automation going to do away with traditional jobs but at least 50% of the workforce is going to work remotely rather than going to a traditional office and whiling away 8 to 10 hours.
Office is no longer the four-walled cabin space you to go every morning. The office has come out from the cabin to the home, to the bus stop, to the cab and everywhere else where you can have internet access.
That’s the story for traditional workplaces. Things don’t end there. The internet by virtue of it has given rise to multiple job opportunities. Blogging, freelance writing, graphic and web design, online consultancy are jobs that didn’t exist before and now do. This also has given rise to purely contractual companies like Uber, Ola, AirbNB to name a few where they can just get away by paying salaries. The benefits like health, insurance, travel and paid leave go out of the window. That’s the downside. But there’s no reason why you can’t make the best of this economy and the opportunities afforded by it.
To actually succeed at this you need discipline.
DISCIPLINE
Just like in the workplace where you gain promotions and salary incentives based on how well you work, it is in the online environment. In a workplace you’re on a tight leash held by the manager and every action is under scrutiny. Whether it be fear or something else, you are motivated to work.
Online work requires way more discipline. As freeing the idea of being your own boss and sipping mochas while typing or designing away sounds, it’s easy to lose focus. There are way too many distractions.
Couple that with naysayers or well-wishers— friends, family, teachers, parents and spouses constantly belittling you and doling out their opinions on why this won’t last and why this isn’t long-term. You’re a fighting a battle against many odds.
And considering that if you do the same work inside an office i.e. if you show you’re going to an office then you don’t get a single dissenting voice. The place of work is their concern and not the work you do. If you work from home, that automatically disqualifies you in their sight. The entire premise of their opinion is flawed. And there’s no reason why you should give any heed to what they say.
Again monetarily you won’t be well off when you start. A blogger that starts his blog today may or may not see a dollar until next year. And even after the income would be on and off. There’s no guarantee that you will make a certain amount every month. It’s not a regular job but as you work and add more articles, the base traffic builds up and you end up making money more than you might have dreamed of.
If you make $10 the first month, eventually you might be doing $200 or $2000. You will also realize additional streams of revenue and possibilities that may not have revealed themselves to you at the beginning. That’s how you work.
Concluding thoughts
The traditional workplace is undergoing a seismic shift that wasn’t possible before. The trend has already begun in the west and is slowly making its way to the east. The old eggheads who are incapable of embracing change would do and say everything in their power to speak against it. They feel that doing so will stop the change. No one can stop the tide.
Working from home is where the future is.
