One of the reasons why people opt for the freelance life is the liberty it provides. As a freelancer, you get to choose when, where and how to work. This freedom of choice leads most freelancers to choose to work from home.
While working from home is amazing, it does have its own downsides. In fact, choosing to freelance at home over other career options generally means succumbing to certain trade-offs.
If you’re just starting out your freelance career and trying to figure out whether working from home would prove beneficial to you, this article will help you out.
Here Are 5 Signs You Are Ready to Work from Home
1. You’re Disciplined:
Working from home makes one have access to certain things that could impede productivity. I mean: when you’ve got your TV and cozy bed nearby, several things could go wrong!
This situation portends danger to those who don’t have the discipline that working at the office provides, as a strong suit.
However, if you’re the type of person who’s unruffled by pleasures, chances are that your productivity wouldn’t be tampered with. In fact, working from home might be no different from working somewhere else.
2. You Have a Dedicated Workspace:
Discipline aside – there’s a need to have a dedicated space to work in. This is one of the 7 essential productivity hacks for business owners. Being at a set workspace ensures your brain is in tune for work.
If your home is free enough to allow the establishment of a workspace that exudes an aura of seriousness, then working at home may not be a bad idea.
3. You Love Working Alone and Have No Distractions at Home:
Working without distractions is always the best way to go about a task. You have nobody (family and friends) likely to disturb you while you are in your “zone,” then you could give working from home a try.
If you are one of those persons who gets disturbed by a call or a knock on the door but you can immediately get back to work — that’s a bonus.
If you are a person who gets interrupted and then you take the afternoon off and can’t get back to work — then that’s not so great and you probably better might not work from home.
Another sign that working from home might be beneficial to you (as long as your home satisfies the above condition) is if you’ve always loved to work alone.
This doesn’t necessarily mean you despise teamwork. More, you find it pleasant to work without having people around to distract you.
4. You Have a Family to Cater to:
Being stuck with a 9 to 5 job probably means you don’t spend as much time as you’d love to with people that matter the most to you. Fortunately, as freelancer, if you’ve got a family that requires your attention, then working from home is a GREAT idea.
This obviously contradicts the previous point and can really impede your productivity if care isn’t taken. When faced with this situation is to strike a balance between family life and freelance work. It doesn’t have to be rocket science.
However, if it IS rocket science to you — with emotional roller coasters and constant stress and pressure because of your family — don’t do it.
5. You’re More Productive at Home:
It’s been proven that working from home makes employees more productive. That’s because people are likely to feel more comfortable while on the job and get as much sleep as needed (which is sometimes an obscure productivity hack), when at home. If you find yourself within this circle of people, then work from home you should!
(The relevance of this point can’t be overemphasized. If you don’t feel productive while working from home, then consider other options).
Conclusion:
What to Do When You Aren’t Set Out to Work From Home.
As you can now see, working from home isn’t a bad idea if you’ve got what it takes. However, if you’ve come to a conclusion that working from home isn’t your thing, then you’ve got several options, one of which is acquiring a co-working space.
I’m touting co-working spaces in this article because I assume you consider yourself unready for freelancing from home because you (and/or your home) don’t meet the requirements stated in this article.
In fact, in certain situations, working at a co-working space may prove more beneficial than working from home. Give it a try.
