I originally mentioned I was going to write this blog last month in this blog but I got sidetracked and never actually covered the topic. This is in direct violation of my third principle (see below) “You Must Be Organized.” Just remember: Do as I say, not as I do. 😉 Here is that list of personality traits you must have to work from home, in no particular order:
You Have to be a Go-Getter. You cannot just sit back and expect people to come running to you with jobs. You have to put a resume together. You have to be willing to scour forums and websites for job leads. Looking for a job is a full-time job. As a general rule, it is harder to find work online than it is a regular job–the entire world is competing against you for that job. Depressing but true. Again, it’s not impossible, it’s just harder. Sometimes the road is a little longer and harder than people are expecting or wanting.
Now is Not the Time to Get Shy I have personally been hired on at a couple of different work-at-home jobs because I PMd (sent a personal message) to a member on a message board/forum. People will often post about their jobs, and if it looks interesting to you, put yourself out there just a bit and send them a PM about it. Sometimes they won’t answer, but a lot of people want to help and will be more than willing to answer your questions. Also, try googling a phrase that you read–you may be able to find that job or something similar by doing a simple search. I found a job doing courthouse research by doing exactly that, and I made $15-20 an hour at that job, one of my most lucrative. I never would have heard of it if I hadn’t googled a phrase someone had mentioned in passing in their post.
You Must Be Organized. Many people who work from home have multiple smaller jobs that give them enough income to replace one full-time job. One reason for this will be covered in my next blog in more depth, but there is also the fact that part-time jobs are much easier to find. If you aren’t a naturally organized person, you better up that skill now. If you have multiple jobs, then you have multiple deadlines. You have multiple guidelines in how to do the work. You have multiple payment structures. You have multiple payments coming in, which can be a headache at tax time. An online calendar (such as the one offered by Google, which you can check out here) can be a lifesaver when it comes to tracking payments, deadlines, invoices, etc. Not to mention it’s free and easy to use.
Don’t Expect Others to Hold Your Hand. This is one of the biggest problems I see on the forums that I visit. New posters never want to read the threads entitled, “Newbies, read this thread first!” nor do they ever seem to want to use the search function. Yes, you should PM people and ask them questions, but there is a limit to that. I have been in the position where I was asked to be a “mentor” basically, for many, many people, all at the same time, all about the same subject. Of course, I wasn’t getting paid for that, I was just trying to help out, but it became overwhelming. I began referring people to other websites to for them get their answers from, but I could tell most of them didn’t want to do that. They just wanted me to hold their hands, all of their hands at the same time, and they didn’t seem to understand why this was a problem. And it wouldn’t have been, if there hadn’t been so many of them!!!! I am not telling this because I want to sound whiny or sound like I didn’t enjoy helping people, because I truly did, but I eventually became very burnt out trying to be everything to everyone. You have got to make sure you are not asking for too much from others. Use that search feature. Read a couple of pages of threads on a forum. Make sure what you are asking isn’t right in front of you. You will receive more respect from others if you do that, I promise you.
And for more in-depth info on why you should have multiple part-time jobs, please stay tuned for tomorrow’s article. Good luck in your search for the perfect job!