You're a mom. You can do anything. (yes, even manage your money)
Start today and download my FREE Mom's Got Money starter pack!
You’ll also get updates from me.

Is Working From Home Becoming the Norm?

  June 24

This post may contain affiliate links.

Working from homeAs many of you know, my plan is to start working from home full time on January 1, 2014. I’m so excited about the possibilities that I could literally burst!

It’s going to be such a big change, but its also a step in the right direction for having the type of work/life balance that I’m craving.

I know the biggest challenge for me will be keeping a normal work schedule. Already I have trouble turning off my computer and phone at night. When you have an online business, it’s hard to ever turn it off, but if I’m going to be a good wifey and a good mother one day, I have to really work on setting these boundaries.

For now, I have to work on my blog at night since I still have a day job, but once January comes around, I’m hoping that I can have a dedicated work space, one that I shut down around 5 or 6 p.m.

You Don’t Have To Be a Blogger to Start Working From Home

I talk to people all the time who would love to work from home, and the good news is that you don’t have to be a blogger to do so. As alluded to in this article, more employers and employees are open to the idea of remote working, since workers can stay in touch with the office in a variety of ways without having to leave home.

Telecommunications leader Powwownow recently explained why working from home could soon become the norm solely because of new video conferencing technology:

They said, β€œThere will always be situations where a face-to-face meeting is required. However, in most cases, video conferencing is as good as the real thing. Being able to see the people you are talking with means that you are better able to read responses through body language. This makes debates easier, and coupled with the ability to share and review data together in real-time, increases productivity.”

Furthermore, working online and communicating using technology gives everyone more flexibility, and it can also save companies a lot of money if they don’t have to pay for large offices. The savings then trickle down to the employees who can save money on gas and even little extras like business attire.

Is Working From Home Right For You?

If you want to start working from home, all you need to do is open the lines of communication with your employer and ask about it. Sometimes even working from home once or twice a week can give you some of the flexibility that you want, and it will also allow you to see if working from home is right for you.

I should note that working from home takes a significant amount of discipline, and it’s definitely not for everyone. But, for those who can do it, it’s an awesome way to take control of your life and live it the way you want to. I personally can’t wait to get started. What about you?

Do you work from home? Or, do you want to? I’d love to hear from those who love going into the office as well.

Photo Credit: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

48 responses to “Is Working From Home Becoming the Norm?

  1. I don’t think I could work from home full-time. I enjoy getting out of the house and interacting with different people all day. I really enjoyvmy job which helps and my 4 day work week is great. I would eventually like to increase freelance to the point I could work 3 days maybe…considering I just had to quit a freelance gig bc it was too time consuming with my ft job I dontsee how it will be possible though!

    1. Working from is harder than most people thing. Its so easy to get distracted. I found that my biggest issue was loneliness. You feel alienated when you work from home.

  2. I have worked from home before and I wasn’t a fan. I do like being able to do it on occasion, but I don’t want to be home all day. It is harder to turn everything off. I was on the computer all day long and all night because I would get into a roll. I was productive in the mornings, but when the afternoon struck, it was not good.

    I don’t think working from home will become the norm, because there are too many companies that won’t let that happen. They want their employees to be in the workplace, so they can watch them and interact with them. While I do think it will become more widespread, I am not sure it will hit “normal” status.

  3. I definitely want to work from home. I’ve worked in retail and which meant that I was always around people, and didn’t enjoy it that much. I now work in an office where nearly everything is independent, so working from home wouldn’t be too much different when it comes to being social.

  4. I haven’t worked from home too much, but I can see the trend start to move in that direction. Personally, I enjoy working from home, but I am not nearly as productive. If I had a designated office and space then I could see myself doing it more often. For now, I continue coming into work on a daily basis.

  5. I wish it was possible for me to work from home because I don’t like having to deal with people. But it’s not and if it ever does become possible it will actually mean I’m out of a job.

  6. I’ve always managed a team, which requires me to be in the office. I would certainly welcome the opportunity to try, but I don’t know when that might be a possibility. I do wonder if I would be able to stay focused at home the way I would need to be. Too many guitars around to get me distracted πŸ™‚ .

  7. I love to be at home and not have to go to an office. When I had deadlines it was easier to stay on track, now I have to set goals to keep motivated and finish projects otherwise I could be in the hammock all day..

  8. I don’t work from home but if I’m ever on maternity leave, I think I would like to give blogging a real shot at working from home…I might find I like it πŸ™‚

  9. I really like going into the office, but I love the flexibility of working from home, so I would say my ideal is a job that combines both. Currently, I go into the office every day, but I have the option to work from home if I want to. For me, that’s the best of both worlds!

  10. Working in social services in my current capacity there’s no way that I could work from home. When I get my license I could do psychotherapy out of my home, but wouldn’t want to (it’s rare but I don’t need any stalkers coming to my house to kill me). I would like to work from home at some point in some way, but I’m not exactly how yet.

  11. Having not left the house in 4 days (from being sick), I think if I were to work from home I would need a definite element of human interaction or structure in my day to make it work and be worthwhile. Because otherwise it just gets mindnumbingly isolating and I start talking to the cat. =)

    1. Years ago I was a stay at home mom with 2 children under 3 years of age, living in the middle of no where. I am a people person. I think I was blackballed from telephone sales calls. Speaking to anyone over 3 foot tall that could speak in full sentences was such a treat.

  12. Ideally, I would like to have the flexibility to work from home whenever I wanted to. Going into the office for two days wouldn’t be bad. The worst thing about going to my job is mostly the traffic, and that could be solved if I was able to go in and leave at an off-time. I also experience a lot of interruptions at work that I wouldn’t at home, or if I had my own private office. My bosses would never let anyone work from home except themselves, though.

  13. I prefer working in a physical work environment. Like you said, this isn’t even my full time gig and I already have trouble with boundaries! Kudos and good luck come Jan 1, though!

  14. I like the idea of the (more) flexible schedule, but I agree with some of the others: I like social interaction that exists face-to-face, and I don’t think I accomplish as much at home as I do in a formal office environment. I also like to keep work and home separate as much as possible. πŸ™‚

  15. Working from home has been dream come true for me. Sure, some of the work I do from home is challenging. It still beats my old day job hands down!

    I don’t think that only bloggers/freelancers work from home at all. My brother and his wife work from home part time and they both work in the insurance industry.

  16. My employer was pretty strict about achieve until last year. Then they changed to a more flexible work policy. Its been great because I can now work from home 1-3one days a week. The old school managers hate it, but you gotta adapt!

  17. I work from home when I’m not on the road visiting customers. My territory is the opposite direction of my employers office so I don’t go unless I need sales literature or samples. My employer is pretty understanding about working from home, its almost the norm for the sales force. I still miss the office, I find I get more work done when there. At home, I have to remember to turn the TV off after breakfast and my cat can be a distraction when she wants to lie all over my desk and my work. LOL!

  18. Great article, Cat, and I’m excited for you to work from home full-time in 2014! I would absolutely love to work from home full-time, and I’m 100% confident I could do my job entirely from home. Unfortunately, my employer is not embracing this at the time (yes, not even a day or two a week). Culture and standards change so we’ll see what happens, but for now I’m stuck driving to the physical building each day.

  19. I thought I’d like working from home, but after a few months, I really started hating it. To be fair, I don’t have a home office, so that could make a difference. But I also felt very isolated and was much less productive.

    First, I started working at the library, which helped a bit. Since then, I’ve moved onto a coworking space that I love. I’m back to roughly a 9-5 schedule with a short bike commute, but I actually like and missed these things more than I thought!

  20. Awesome for you Cat! It sounds like you have thought this through and are looking forward to it. I think you are right in that working from home is not for everyone and requires great amounts of discipline. If I worked from home, I would try to find other venues to work at if possible like the library, park or wi-fi equipped eatery to break up the monotony of always being at home.

  21. Unfortunately, it’s not really feasible to work from home in my industry. I love what I do, but I would also like the option to work from home someday, and certainly would if a new opportunity came along that seemed like the right fit. Like you, my biggest challenge would be to establish working and non-working hours. I’m already on my computer or phone 80% or more of the time when I’m home, and would definitely have to cut way back on that!

  22. More and more people are finding it more convenient, especially those who are not comfortable with talking to a lot of people or those who can work efficiently and effectively alone. And you are right, you don’t have to be a blogger to do this. There are others who still work for a company but works at home and just emails or faces their report.

  23. I would love to work from home. Solely for the excuse to sleep in a bit. I only live a mile from my job, so the commute is a non-issue. For now, I actually do all my blogging while I’m at work since Leslie and I run a business ourselves in the evenings, so when I do eventually leave my job to work full time at home setting up a time to blog will be a new experience!

  24. I don’t have the discipline to work from home – even the few times I have to work on weekends, I go in to work or else I’ll save it up for Sunday night/ Monday morning. I think I might have a change in heart once we hopefully have kids, though. I admire those that are able to like yourself!

  25. I think I can easily do my job working from home for the most part…maybe go into the office once in a while. It will never happen though as I think my employer likes to micromanage and know where I am. Working from home might be a little distracting for me…maybe if I had a separate room for a home office it would be okay though.

  26. I do go into an office as I meet with clients, but when I was still in Corporate, I had a little bit of flexibility and did occasionally work from home. My husband has worked from home for many years and it works great for him. It does take discipline to turn off the work self and not stay plugged in.

  27. I work from home occasionally, and I always seem to get MUCH more done! If I could do it full-time, I’d have to set some strict boundaries around family time vs. work time. Mostly, I think my kid would probably keep coming in and playing with me, so I would not get much done. Mostly, I’d love to work within walking distance of my house, I think that would be much better πŸ™‚

  28. Working from home is actually a lot more difficult than most people think. I started out working from home a few years ago and I found myself working constantly. The beauty of working in an office is that you leave at some point, but you really have to commit to a some sort of work schedule at home otherwise, it’s easy to work night and day.

    These days I work a few days at home and a few days at the office and I think it’s an excellent balance for me.

  29. I absolutely love working from home. I’ve learned recently that it’s a damn good thing I have this balance/freedom I cherish so much because there’s no way I’d have made it through all these challenges this month if I didn’t have the option to work wild and crazy hours, if at all. I left the corporate world in search of balance in lieu of fat paychecks, etc. I couldn’t be happier with my choice, and I look forward to what the future holds πŸ™‚

  30. Hey Cat!! Good for you, that sounds like a great move for you! I don’t think I could work at home full-time – I would implode in on myself. I was off these last three weeks and I started to fall apart in that last week – apparently I bore myself tremendously. πŸ˜‰ Ideally, I think I will always hold a part-time job outside and then have a side gig going on like my blog (or whatever).

    For you though, It sounds like you’ve got a pretty sweet gig going so embrace that! You’ve earned it!

Comments are closed.
Copyright Β© Catherine Alford.  Designed & Developed with by LizTheresa.com