I get asked this question a lot… a lot. I have worked from home for 10 years, gone back out into the crazy world and traffic once more for a year last year and finally come full circle again working from home in a real, paid part – time job for another real company and I am loving it so much I might add!. You would be amazed how many people ask if the company I work for now and have worked for previously are real. I am not sure what they mean..maybe the fear of the unknown, the belief that if it is too good to be true it probably is.

The unknowing is slowly fading away now as more and more people telecommute and more jobs open up in home based roles, yet it seems there is a quite a bit of division of whether people want to do it or not. I have girlfriends who tell me they just would not have the discipline to do daily what I do, they would be distracted with all things home and family and this can happen if you are not careful . From my experience, let me try and answer some of the more common questions when you tell people you work from home have…

How do you stay disciplined to work all day and not do housework or laundry? Answer: The simple answer is that if I started doing housework or laundry, someone would soon notice. Work from home jobs are often quite demanding and they need to be. Your boss wants to be sure they are receiving value for money for giving you the trust and privilege of working from your home… You may have phone lines to answer using Skype or Aircall or a mobile number, you may have Chat lines to respond to quickly and efficiently and emails to reply to within a certain time frame.. or you may just have a busy role that if you are not there working on it consistently, sooner or later someone will notice and trust me, they do! Having been a National manager myself it certainly doesn’t take long to work out if staff were available or at times distracted.. the emails, calls and chats piling up will always tell the truth..So.. the answer is , you treat your work hours as work and do your work, you do all your other jobs outside of those hours, just as you would if you worked away from home..no difference and don’t make it a habit of doing this at all.

How do you get a job like your’s? You get out there. You look, you Google, you apply, you put your name out there, you work hard building your craft, getting your work noticed, hustling, making sure your skills, your work ethic, your reputation is 100% spot on.. You pray as well..I am a bit of a believer in manifesting and if you really want it, it will come to you as long as you believe it can.

What’s the good things about working from home? Well obviously the associated costs of commuting, be it a car and fuel and running costs with Insurance and rego and wear and tear or Public transport costs. The Corporate Wardrobe costs, getting up early, getting home late , the coffee/lunches costs. The office politics, people fiddling with aircons because they are too hot/too cold/ too dry.. trust me, I have had this happen to me and it drove me crazy.. Heavy smokers taking smoke breaks every 30 minutes, coming back wreaking of nicotine, and not giving a care in the world for their ex (aka me) or non smoker colleagues and breathing on them whilst leaning over them checking on what work they were doing while they were outside doing no work… hmm??? wtf ..Grey Walls, no views, people who come to work sick/hungover/tired/angry/sad.. all this stuff affects you. It does. I am not saying these people were horrible or bad or anything, but all this stuff affects you, it changes your day, your work day and it seriously can really bring you down.

Any negatives at all? Yes, there are, but it does depend on how you look at them and what sort of person you are. If you are a very social being who loves getting up early, dressing up, putting on your heels and make up, than maybe rethink the WFH life. Unless you still want to get up and get dressed up every day. Don’t get me wrong, I get up at 5am most days still to exercise, meditate, write and look after our house and our pets, but I know I can work in whatever clothes I want to and no one is going to judge me if I have a coffee stain on my t shirt or if I am still in my togs (Bathers for non Queenslanders) when I start work after a swim at the beach or our pool.

There can also be problems on when your work day starts and when it ends.. this is the one thing I am still really guilty of. You.Have.To.Go.Home at the end of your work hours and day. I am sure all bosses love seeing their staff being dedicated and putting in the (usually unpaid) overtime, but you need to understand that you have to know your worth and work out exactly how much you are working for each hour and decide if those extra hours are really worth it..

Also, it can be difficult initially for your family and friends to accept that you are in an actual proper job and putting an end to them overstepping the boundaries can be hard, but you have to do it. I have found this simple reply when someone wants to drop over for a coffee and a chat during your working week of ” I would love to, however I am working right now so perhaps we can catch up on the weekend” works a treat.

Summing up: Yes I know working from home is not for everyone. But for me, it has worked for the past 15 years. I recently celebrated my 4th Anniversary with my current employer and I could not be happier, nor could my family and pets as I am here for them. I love the lifestyle it affords me, I love the work I do and the company I work for and with. It is meaningful and interesting work and my past skills keep me in good steed for this role. I can work anywhere as long as I have reasonably good speed internet, and I have in the past from such interesting places such as Broome, Fraser Island, Moreton Island, Ayers Rock, Alice Springs, the Nullarbor and Karumba.

I would say if you are tired of the long commuting times, the long work hours, the sore feet from those heels, the office politics, the time away from your family, then give it a go..you just might like it!