did you take a "risk" in order to work from home... (employee, credit card)

[bell235]

Mostly a question for people who work remotely - did you have to take some kind of risk in order to get your telecommuting position?

I'm in the accounting field where majority of the jobs are typical office jobs where you go in to an office. I don't see too many work from home opportunities out there. There are a few - like doing outsourced accounting. For whatever reason i view these positions as really risky. I don't know why - maybe because i wouldn't have a supervisor/boss looking over my shoulder everyday? maybe because if i have a question i have no one to ask because i'd be working on my own and no one is physically present to ask a question? maybe it's simply because it goes against the grain/majority of the accounting positions out there.

Just curious if people who work from home now viewed the opportunity as a "risky" move?

[hitpausebutton2]

be nice if i could work at home. Things i do not i do remotly anyways, so not sure why i cant do it from my house. Boss excuse was he doesnt know what i do at home so he thinks i be playing around.

[JPrzybylski07]

I worked from "Home" for 3 years doing credit card processing sales making thousands of cold calls to prospects. As long as I had a cell phone signal and my tablet with wireless internet I could work in my car, which was nice at times being mobile. I didn't have to take a risk but I did have to give up some security. Financially I had some success for my lifestyle at the time, but now I am sitting in an office working that 9-5 job again as I type this lol... So things didn't work out like how I expected but I have zero regrets. Since the position was mainly commission based I guess that was the only risk but I survived for 3 years and having the freedom of being your own boss was awesome.....

[cattalk1]

Totally, you have to keep the BIG emergency fund or you have a second income from a spouse to go 'work at home'. Can run a side business and work as many hours as needed for 'day job' for a while. Also have to finance some equipment sometimes ... I did not want to get business bank accounts or business credit cards, just EIN # to get started. I ran up some debt for equipment on my own credit. Also had to replace obsolete stuff and broken equipment...Ein # is totally advisable for freelancers and Craigslist workers so you don't have to give out SS# to unknowns.

Some of the smaller businesses DO want to use an accountant for even basic A/R and invoicing. Can get good amount of work from newspapers billing the advertisers ... Other people who bill their customers on invoices....Is basic stuff but it's where the money and work are easily found and scrounged up through Chamber of Commerce membership and a few good recommendations.

[jade408]

Originally Posted by bell235

Mostly a question for people who work remotely - did you have to take some kind of risk in order to get your telecommuting position?

I'm in the accounting field where majority of the jobs are typical office jobs where you go in to an office. I don't see too many work from home opportunities out there. There are a few - like doing outsourced accounting. For whatever reason i view these positions as really risky. I don't know why - maybe because i wouldn't have a supervisor/boss looking over my shoulder everyday? maybe because if i have a question i have no one to ask because i'd be working on my own and no one is physically present to ask a question? maybe it's simply because it goes against the grain/majority of the accounting positions out there.

Just curious if people who work from home now viewed the opportunity as a "risky" move?

I worked from home for 3 years as a consultant (employee of a consulting company)

I was worried about it, because I liked working in an office. And when I joined the company there weren't really people in my region. They ended up growing the business, but I was the only person on my team locally. Eventually I switched teams to the local one, and even ended up with a local boss during the last year or so. We had a cowering space for part of the time and I also went to client sites locally and out of state.

I have also worked with outsourced accounting firms in previous jobs.

In my work from home roles, we had weekly team meetings over the phone. Everyone was available during work hours on Skype (I am sure now Slack) and we asked questions that way. People were pretty accessible, you know what the working hours are an most people worked standard hours.

We had full company meetings annual, and arranged team dinners and the like whenever someone was in a locale with critical mass of employees. We also met up at trade shows. It has been about 5 years since I worked at that place, but I see my former colleagues at industry events and even remained friends with some of them. Meeting a few for dinner this week!

I didn't like not having that daily interaction with coworkers - I am too social to work from home. So I got burned out of my apartment and working from home, so I went back to office life.

There are a lot of tools to keep people connected these days.

The most important thing about working from home is creating a work zone in your home so work doesn't takeover your whole space.