Home Work

Know the Challenges Before You Work from Home

Approximately 1 in 7 people across the UK work from home. In Kent, that means around 250,000 people running their own home businesses, taking part in the gig economy, or offering services from their spare room. The TUC, meanwhile, believe that many more people would work from home if they were given the opportunity. Well, businesses across the globe, thanks to the Internet, cloud technology, and a raft of online work platforms, are offering more flexibility for remote workers. However, this article is more focused on those who go out into the world as freelancers and home business owners, do you have what it takes to make it work?

Living the Dream

Some dream of working from home while stuck in traffic during the daily commute or while stuck in the office. Others just do not fit into the company and office-based environment and work better by themselves. And many others have an internal drive to create something, offer something, or sell something. Whatever the spur, many people see working from home as the ideal without appreciating the reality. It is therefore vital to take a long, considered approach before making the leap.

Overcoming the Reality

Like many businesses, income is not guaranteed and even if it does come, it might not come right away. Unless you have contacts and work set up or a hobby business which is expanding already, you will need savings to kickstart your venture. Furthermore, being your own boss means finding internal discipline and organizational skills to move things along. If you are prone to distractions like the TV or social media, or struggle to get yourself out of bed and into work mode, you are going to struggle. Furthermore, many home-based jobs are isolated with few to no colleagues – certainly no real world ones, and the sedentary lifestyle of living and working at home is bad for your health.

Rich Rewards When It Works

However, all of these things can be overcome. If you can do that, you will enjoy a lifestyle where you have the flexibility to design your own work schedules, to work where you want, wearing what you want, and how you want. It takes time, but you can achieve these things and help boost the local economy in Kent. Indeed, there are groups for freelance workers to socialise, there are networking events, you have the freedom to take your children to school instead of commuting, and you can take as long a lunch break as you like.

Blog By Sally Keys