Working from home is a dream of many people who wish to start a home-based business or move away from traditional employment. The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that more than 20 million people currently work from home, and the shift continues to rise. Branching out into home business has both positive and negative attributes, and the ability to weigh the pros and cons is important to achieve success.
Pro: Flexibility
Leaving traditional employment to work at home offers the ability to be more flexible with working hours. Structuring work around family activities, your children's school functions and social engagements is a key benefit of working from home. For many work-at-home parents, the ability to stay home with children during sick days or school closings reduces stress and worry, while working evening and weekend hours from home ties in the flexibility needed to combine work and family responsibilities.
Pro: Savings
Working at home can increase overall savings over the costs of working outside of the home. The cost of fuel for commuting, meal expenses, day care fees and professional clothing expenses dramatically decrease when you begin working at home. As well, other expenditures that may have been daily occurrences, such as parking fees or a stop to the coffee shop, can decrease and add up to savings over time.
Pro: Control
Taking control of your career path can be an enticing benefit of working at home. Using a broader range of talents and professional interests, and not having to wait for professional advancement or a raise in pay are possible when you have the ability to put yourself first. Working from home allows you to have more personal control and personal responsibility for the outcome of your professional success.
Con: Isolation
Working from home and not having a daily connection to co-workers or other professionals can be very isolating. Social aspects are often lost once you establish business from home, or may occur much less than they would in an office setting. In addition to social networking, professional collaborations and brainstorming over business problems or questions can also be lost when working at home.
Con: Stability
Working from home often means that you will be responsible for your own health insurance and benefits. In addition, sourcing steady work from which to earn a regular paycheck becomes your sole responsibility. Finding clients, collecting payments and keeping ahead of taxes and government requirements can be daunting for those who have relied on an employer to take care of these issues in the past.
Con: Inturruptions
The interruptions and pressures of daily life can have an effect on working from home. Having a work space in the home puts you at risk for distractions from household chores, noisy children, and people stopping by unexpectedly. For those who have a difficult time managing distractions and delegating appropriate working time, working from home successfully may be difficult to achieve.
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