From office careers to writing careers, more and more people are opting to work from him since the internet and all of that great technology has made it such an easy thing to do. You don’t even have to be a stay at home parent to reap the rewards of a virtual career. It gives those with disabilities, even anxiety, a new lease on life and a new outlet to make some money.
Working from home is also a great way to save money on vehicle expenses, and might even make it so you don’t need a vehicle, depending on your shopping habits. With all of the benefits it’s a wonder not everyone works from home! Well, of course, you still need people at the real stores and medical professionals to keep you safe and healthy at the hospitals.
If you have a talent that can be utilized online, whether you have experience as a writer, in data entry, or you simply make great artwork, you can work from home, in the virtual world, and make a living on your couch. Ready to learn how to do it?
Finding Work
You need to have a skill that can be used in the virtual world such as being able to design websites or logos, or being a great blog or article writer. You need to have experience, and you’ll show off that experience in your resume. Better than a resume, though, would be to have an online portfolio where potential employers can get a real feel for your skills, talent, experience and work, and see first hand some of the projects you’ve completed.
When it comes to job hunting, you’ll do that virtually as well. There are plenty of websites that cater strictly to virtual jobs, or even online writing jobs, and there are also plenty of virtual job opening shared on the normal job hunting sites, like Monster and Indeed. Start applying and your offers will start rolling in.
Invoicing
Many online jobs will require you to be a contract, or 1099 worker, and you just might need to be submitting your own invoices in order to get paid. It’s easy enough to create a free invoice online, if your client or employer doesn’t have something specific they’d like you to fill out and submit for each payday.
Save your invoices so that you can keep track of your pay, especially if you are paid in a more non-traditional, online, sort of system, like Vimeo or Paypal. This will second as your pay stub, since you won’t actually have a traditional pay stub. It can come in handy at tax time, or if you need proof of income for anything.
Staying Productive
The biggest downfall for some, when it comes to working from home in the virtual world, is time management. You really need to be skilled at managing your time and making sure to focus on work. Even if you don’t get set work hours from a virtual employer, it get be very helpful to set your own.
You want to stay productive and get your work done, so you also need to set boundaries if you don’t live alone. Young children need a lot of attention and may not understand the rules that when mommy is at her desk she’s at work, but even spouses and friends can get confused by your work at home status. After all, you’re at home, so why aren’t you available for a chat?
Setting specific work day hours can help with this, but you also need to be able to be flexible and work well under pressure. A sick kid could throw off your whole work day, but if you have deadlines you still need to get your work done. You can do both, care for your family and get the job done, you just need to be flexible. If you aren’t flexible, online work is not going to work for you.
If you think you have what it takes to work in the virtual world, give it a shot. Don’t quit your day job right away though, Instead look for something part time that will work around your normal schedule and take some time to find out if you have the chops for being a work from home person.
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