Saturday, May 3, 2008

Is there a Future in Working at Home When You Have Children?

Is there a Future in Working at Home When You Have Children?
by Ioannis Mitrou
Copyright © Ioannis Mitrou
http://www.Trade4Net.com

Many people these days are either working at home or contemplating leaving their jobs in order to do so. Additionally, many stay-at-home moms are seeking at-home work to earn extra income to help with household expenses, or to provide for the family's future, either for retirement or for their kids' education. If you are thinking of seeking at-home work or even starting a home business so you can spend more time with your kids, beware- working at home can be a dicey proposition. However, by planning ahead following some simple guidelines, it is possible to do work from your home with children in the house.

The first rule of working at home is, make a schedule and stick to it. If your children are older, they will understand that Mommy (or Daddy) needs them to be quiet during certain scheduled hours. It is helpful to have designated breaks when you can spend time with your kids. If the kids are school-aged, plan to do your work while they are in school. If they are younger, you may seek your future employment with a company that allows home workers to schedule evening hours, when your spouse can be at home to watch them.

The second rule is, have a designated work area. It can be a spare room, a corner of a bedroom or even the dining room table. Just make sure your children know that when Mommy (or Daddy) is in the "office", they are not to disturb you unless there is an emergency. This is especially important when your work-at-home job or business requires you to be on the phone a lot. Having a noisy child in the background is unprofessional, and can jeopardize your future employment, or ruin relations with potential customers or clients.

The third rule of work-at-home employment is, distract the children. If they are quiet types who can entertain themselves, you may want to give them their own "office"- a small desk or table with toys, crayons and paper, or, if the child is old enough, a second computer so that they can "work" with Mommy or Daddy. You may even have older kids help out with some of the simpler tasks. If this is not feasible, try to arrange for older neighborhood children to come over and play in an area away from your home office. You may have to resort to hiring a sitter. If your finances do not permit this, you can connect with other stay-at-home or work-at-home parents and start a babysitting pool. Keeping your children quiet and out of the way is vital to your future as an at-home worker.

Working at home when you have children can be tricky, but if you follow these guidelines, it can be done. If you are planning to seek at-home work in the near future, make sure you prepare in advance. A consistent schedule, a designated work area, and activities to keep your kids busy while you work will help to keep your family happy and allow your work time to be more productive.



About the Author:
by Ioannis Mitrou
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Feature Article: Make the Leap to Home Based Business Success
Copyright © Stone Evans, The Home Biz Guy
http://www.PlugInProfitSite.com/main-21696

Before you can have a successful home based business, you must first possess 3 "intangibles." These are things that must come from WITHIN you.

 ===> Intangible 1 <===

First, you must have a strong WHY.

Why MUST you have a successful home business? What is driving you? What is it that you CAN'T have in your life anymore and/or what is it that you absolutely MUST HAVE now?

For me, I couldn't stand working 12+ hours a day anymore and missing the experience of my children growing up. I also absolutely HAD TO HAVE the freedom of being able to control my life and finances through a little box (laptop computer) that I could carry with me anywhere in the world and not be tied to anyone's time pressures or demands but my own. That was my carrot and my stick. I felt a great pain deep in my gut of missing out on my children's lives and the incredible freedom that succeeding in a home based business would provide for me. I found my why. You MUST find yours.

===> Intangible 2 <===

You must BELIEVE that it is possible.

If you don't believe that it's POSSIBLE for you to have a successful home based business or make your living from home, you won't. It's that simple.

For me, figuring out that it was possible was just a matter of realizing that many other people were ALREADY making great money working from home. If they could do it, I could too. It would just be a matter of figuring out what those people were doing and then adapting it to my situation.

There is no shortage of undeniable PROOF that people (millions of them) are making money working from home. Just get online and do some research and you'll find countless testimonials and stories of REAL PEOPLE making real money on the Internet. Or head to your local bookstore and you'll find the same documented evidence of this fact. Truth is, it's getting easier and easier to make money with your own home based business.

I've always said that "affiliate marketing" (a simple way to make money from home) is the job of the future. In the "old" days, you had to go to a potential employer, apply for the position and hope for the best. Now you can simply go to any company you want, fill out their affiliate application and start work immediately. Affiliates are the new working class. In fact, making money with affiliate programs or making your living on the Internet is WAY MORE than possible. It is pretty much (or will be soon enough) unavoidable now. Affiliate marketing is the "job" of the future that's already here TODAY.

===> Intangible 3 <===

You must be willing to MAKE THE LEAP.

Ready, FIRE, then aim... This is the operating philosophy you MUST adopt to succeed with a home based business.

That's backwards for most people who like to aim before they fire. The fact is that home based business success is a moving target... The only thing constant about it is change. You need to stop analyzing the game and simply jump into it. You can't learn from the outside... You have to be IN THE RING to truly understand it.

The lesson here is that you will never really be READY to start a home based business. You simply have to start one. It's like having children... You're never really ready, but when it happens you adapt and grow. This is what I call "Making the Leap."

The good news is that the cost of failure with having your own home based business is very small. In the "brick and mortar" world you need to evaluate things very carefully before you decide to open up a business. It's almost always necessary to invest thousands of dollars to get an offline business off the ground. However, on the Internet you can often start a successful business for less than $100. The Plug-In Profit Site is a great example of this: http://www.PlugInProfitSite.com/main-21696

You simply need get IN THE GAME... Each moment that you stay "out there," you're wasting valuable time that you could be learning and skills necessary to build a successful home based business. In fact, if you're not in the game yet, you're ALREADY behind the times. Make the leap to creating a successful home based business today!

About the Author:

Stone Evans, The Home Biz Guy has helped thousands of people in over 200 countries around the world start and run a successful home business. Discover 3 easy steps to start your own home business and subscribe to The Home Biz Guy's FREE Home Business Secrets Mini-Course at: http://www.PlugInProfitSite.com/main-21696

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