I’ve always wanted to share my story on how I got started on the work-from-home lifestyle or having a home-based career and business that you can operate from the comforts of your home. When I met my newborn niece and her very young teenage parents a few days ago, they reminded me of the reason why I thrive in this space.
Working-from-home (with or without a baby to care for) is a dream come true for most workers. It allows them to have work-life integration without neglecting the chance to earn a good living. I know because it’s how it transformed my work life, too.
Growing without my parents, it has become my goal to be a hands-on parent no matter how demanding my work-from-home lifestyle gets.
Every journey starts with a Purpose, what would be yours?
If you’re already part of the countless social groups about working-from-home, remote jobs or home-based work, you will notice a common reason why they chose a WFH lifestyle – to be with their family.
My journey started when I decided to pursue my agency dream by moonlighting on projects outside my day job. I’ve sent countless proposals and bid on many projects to online job marketplaces and sent cold emails until I got a few replies good enough as leads. Within just a few days, I was working with my first batch of clients and got 500 dollars of extra income right away!
“You can’t outwit fate by standing on the sidelines placing little side bets about the outcome of life.
If you don’t play you can’t win.”
– Judith McNaught
Ready to start your work-from-home routine?
Sometimes we just need a boost to get started
I’ve known about online job marketplaces since 2008, but I thought they were scams back then. It took five years before I finally entertained the idea of getting an outsourced job. But the truth is, I didn’t bid on my first batch of projects on my own. I got some sort of help from one of the early adopters of those online job marketplaces because I was too intimidated on the idea of promoting my skills and work experiences in an unknown space. If you feel intimidated about the whole process of getting an online job, seek help from those who’ve been in the industry and continue your research so you can follow through.
Highlighting relevant skills and experiences
Most work-from-home hopefuls have similar issues about not having the right skills and experiences to win an online job. While there are many online jobs available like data entry, marketing, project management to name a few, it’s hard to narrow down the skills that you can offer. My strategy is to always be true to what you can contribute in a project. If you have worked in the HR industry, you can help with hiring and managing a team and then, later on, learn about how project management works. Let say you’ve done sales in the past, maybe upgrading your knowledge on how online sales work could help your clients with their ecommerce websites.
Toy Unboxing Sessions in between breaks. See all our videos on YouTube.
Adapt to changes as quickly as possible
For three years, I have worked non-stop on client projects. I’ve hired my own team to support my projects. The whole setup taught me so many things about the responsibility of having a team. It really took my mothering and entrepreneurial skills to a level higher. Unfortunately, a part of my business goal had suffered. There were opportunities that I missed only because I wasn’t quick enough to adapt to the changes in the business. But at the end of the day, you have to keep your focus and constantly go back to the reason why you’re doing what you’re doing. Is it for economic reasons alone or is it for a long-term goal?
What’s your ultimate goal
The hardest part about the whole work-from-home lifestyle is that it’s such an amazing lifestyle! You can choose to work anytime, anywhere with the project of your choice. There’s no need to commute daily to work unless you prefer to work somewhere else other than your home for a day. Overhead cost is also very minimal unless you prefer to build a team to expand your business. It could really get too comfortable that you might forget to strategize on your next steps. Always remind yourself and don’t let your current situation stall you from achieving your ultimate goal.
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Merely wanna tell that this is very helpful, Thanks for taking your time to write this.
Hi Ladawn, You’re welcome! I’ll be writing more tips about working-from-home. Don’t miss out. Simply follow the blog so you’ll get notified whenever there’s a new one. 🙂