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Poor Work from Home Conditions

The biggest telecommuting obstacle to achieving the highest efficacy in the telework environment is poor work from home conditions including lack of dedicated workspace. Let’s face it, no matter how much you want to work from home and enjoy the benefits of remote work if you do not have an adequate workspace, your performance will suffer.

With the growing concern or threat of telecommuting not being a temporary solution to a viral emergent crisis, it is looking more like telecommuting will be the future of how work is accomplished in the world as we know it, following the pandemic and beyond.

Homeworkers are not equipped for success when it comes to working from home, and 77 percent of them report the weakest link in their ability to maintain a high level of productivity is directly related to not having an appropriate workspace set aside in the home.

Poor Working Conditions at Home

The majority of our telecommuters (77%) are reporting that not having adequate workspace to conduct their duties effectively is impeding their ability to productively keep up with their coworkers.

According to statistics, right now, 42% are working at their kitchen or dining table and 3% can be found working in the bathroom.

The detailed list of complications arising from not having adequate workspace is vast and widely varied, but most all the concerns and complaints about working from home would be quickly resolved if these individuals had an effective office area set up.

So, what is the solution? How do the employees, employers, or anyone else solve the problem of living in a home that does not provide the tools necessary for these remote workers to thrive while not being able to maintain high levels of production?

Many homes are moderate and may have limited space available to work. Even so, there are many teleworkers who have successfully carved out an effective work area, even in small apartments. It may take some time and ingenuity, but this has been accomplished by those who are successfully working from home.

Working from Home with Family

Those hit hardest are those who are working from home, and are trying to manage a family, while working remotely, and have space limitations. In fact, families who have telecommuters in the house are at the greatest risk, which is understandable.

Inadequate Equipment or Services

The next hurdle to overcome is the lack of equipment or services. Of course, employers will not want their employees’ performance to decline due to a lack of technology. It is up to the employee to reach out to the employer to see if there may be subsidies available to help get your home work-area up-to-speed. Do so before your numbers start to reveal that there are problems at home.

The Answer: Coworking Space

Coworking spaces are springing up all across America. They come in all shapes, sizes, and locations. You will find them in office buildings, converted retail spaces, and recently, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, you can find them conveniently located inside apartment buildings that house telecommuters.

The important elements in any coworking facility is multiple workstations, a blazing Internet connection, and any number of various and sundry business accoutrements.

Regardless, it is imperative that remote workers find ways to establish positive workspaces either at home or get access to a remote workspace, like a coworking office space. And if you are telecommuting and struggling with your remote working conditions, check with your employer, they may offer to subsidize your coworking rent, or some employers are setting up rural remote offices, where clusters of their employees may reside.

 

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Pandemic Remote Work Statistics Not Good

No doubt many telecommuters are thriving during the pandemic. For the most part these are upper-income office workers whose jobs easily transitioned from the office environment to successfully working from home as they continue to enjoy all the benefits from doing so.

For the rest of the world, things are not looking as optimistic. There are rising rates of domestic violence, depression, suicidal ideation, and mental health services are hard-pressed to meet the growing demand for both remote workers and the increasingly unemployed Americans who are tasked with having to manage work (or lack of work) and surviving during unprecedented times.

Research is ongoing, as we try to get a handle on what we are up against as we all are trying to do our best under such challenging conditions.

As the statistics continue to come in, one research firm (The Martec Group) has provided results of a groups study that confirms, even among those who are telecommuting and working from home, there is growing cause for concern.

According to statistics

32% Pissed Off

The largest segment of teleworking employees (32%) report that they are hugely in opposition of the current work at home conditions. They don’t like working at home, and they think that their employers are not doing a very good job at making adequate arraignments not offering the support necessary to ensure a successful telecommuting environment.

27% Disgruntled

Then there are the employees that also do not like working at home, but they are not blaming their employers at all. As awkward and uncomfortable as it might be, they are of the mind that their employers are doing the best they can with what they have. These account for 27% of the group.

It is disconcerting, that the larger part of the group (59%) is not enjoying the remote working scenario whatsoever. And who would blame them? Who likes being forced to do anything that is outside their comfort zone? (No matter how you try to explain how fortunate they are to have a job.)

Then there are the employees who don’t hate working from home, are not crazy about it and wished they didn’t have to do it, but also think that their employers will come out of the pandemic in good shape (25%), and they believe they will be able to return to work under more normal conditions after the restrictions are lifted.

16% Love It

If you believe the media, you will think the largest segment of the pandemic telecommuters would be those who are enthusiastically celebrating their new life and freedom associated with working from home. But it turns out that only 16% are thriving as the result of working from home, and if given the opportunity to continue to do so would jump at the chance, even if it meant taking a slight pay cut.

84% Do Not Want to Work from Home

It is interesting to note the majority (84%) of these employees are not happy. Not only are they not happy, but they do not want to be working from home.

72% Growing Mental Health Concerns

They feel like they are being forced to work under undesirable conditions, and 72% of them reported growing mental health concerns.

I think we could do better.

 

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Before You Quit Your Job for Your Family

Remember when you were first “invited” to work from home? No more commuting back and forth from work which meant more quality time for you and your family, the flexible hours, backing all the cash that you saved from not having to commute or that you were paying for designer coffee and lunch? Remember how sweet it was?

Not long after the initial elation and celebration of being able to be that master of your own destiny, the reality of it all hit, hard. While it was entertaining during online videoconferencing to see your coworker’s toddler tapping him on the shoulder and proclaiming, “Daddy, I need a wipe,” or your cats running up the drapery backdrop which comes crashing down to reveal the fact that there was no window behind the drapes of your video telework set, the fact was, it turns out this working from home environment was not all it was cracked up to be.

If you had become accustomed to having a break from your family during the day, well, those days are long gone, and no one would blame you for yearning for things to return to some semblance of normalcy, or to consider quitting your job to tend to your family.

Families who are restricted to being indoors for the most part, with one or more adults telecommuting, kids attending school from home, and local businesses closed (some restricted from opening, and others gone, forever), are paying an incredible cost, and many working women are feeling the pressure to resign to try to keep their family from falling apart.

Before You Quit Your Job for Your Family

Teenagers are easy enough to incentivize if you can provide them with a large able and Internet package, and a debit card to use for shopping on Amazon in exchange for pitching in with the household chores, but even they are starting to go a bit stir crazy. You can only expect these energetic young men and women to agree to a willful lockdown for so long.

The youngest children are the ones that are the neediest, and there is little relief in sight.

What can you do when things start going crazy at home?

Be Honest and Open

Before declaring, “this is just too much,” throwing in the towel, or giving your two-weeks’ notice, reach out to your employer and colleagues, and let them know that your frustrations are a growing concern.

You will be surprised at how they will be willing to show compassion during these unprecedented times. Many of them are having the same kinds of problems and they are ready and willing to help you with solutions that will relieve some of your stress.

There is nothing to fear for being vulnerable and transparent when the going gets rough.

Establish Family Boundaries

We are all doing the best we can to make it through this pandemic. Granted, we are all under more pressure than we could reasonably expect to ask of someone. But having a serious sit-down and pep-talk with the family and getting buy-in on the idea that we all want to survive this chaos, you can get family members to agree to help, and you can set boundaries that will increase your ability to continue to work from home more effectively when duty calls.

Childcare

Granted, the daycares are shut down, but that doesn’t mean that asking friends or family to help babysit periodically is out of the question. Even during the pandemic, you can find people who will be willing to don PPE for a few hours a day to help relieve you from some of the stress of balancing parenting with working from home.

Time Managing Chores and Activities

Save and manage delegating chores to those times that you know you are going to be called on to “be there” for your employer for certain periods of time. Give the kids projects that they can do online, or even via (educational?) television. Arts and crafts can be used to get kids to focus while you are conducting a Zoom meeting.

Many working women are feeling like they have to make the decision between work and family, and no one would judge you for choosing your family, but give it some more thought before you withdraw from your work or online job, because it may be more difficult to reenter the remote workplace once you’ve taken a family sabbatical.

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Pandemic Haves vs Have Nots

A tragic concern regarding the haves vs. the have nots is emerging in the wake of the ensuing pandemic crisis in America, and around the world.

For years the business world has sung the praises of telecommuting, and over the years a small percentage of businesses and organizations embraced this new remote work model, that was then. In 2020, this is now. Telecommuting has become the new standard and if you are currently working from home, you are a survivor of COVID-19 restrictions. If you are not ready, able, and willing to work from home, you are among the many that may be looking forward to very tough times ahead.

Now there is a distinctive and growing chasm between office workers who easily adapted to the work from home scenario that was forced upon half of all workers in America and the labor market which was, for the most part, sent home to try to survive on unemployment. And as we all know, the unemployment reserves are rapidly being depleted. What happens to the labor market segment when the well runs dry?

Its as if the effects of the pandemic are further dividing the haves (those that have work from home jobs) from the have nots (unemployed). In comparison, the “haves” are enjoying all the benefits from teleworking, while the “have nots” are struggling to survive.

While some factories resorted to crowd manufacturing, others were shut down during the lockdown, and many of those have been retrofitted and established social distancing and the use of PPE in order to return to work, but the hospitality, entertainment, and service industries are suffering dramatically.

The hardest hit during the pandemic is women with children. As time goes on, working mothers are being forced to choose to leave the workforce in an attempt to manage a household and children are forced to stay home because daycares are off-limits, and youths are having to school from home as well.

Minorities are suffering as they are not proportionately represented in telecommuting-ready fields, and they are targeted at being more at risk during the pandemic than Caucasians.

Can we bridge the gap between the haves and have nots?

The only way to do so is to bring work from home opportunities to those who have been pandemically displaced. Retraining, subsidizing the necessary equipment and connectivity necessary to make those who are unable to telecommute remote-work-ready.

Prolonging and widening the divide between peoples is too much to ask and is not the answer.

We have an enthusiastic workforce that lays dormant, eager to return to work, but is incapable of making the leap from line staff to remote staff.

Will companies, communities, states, and federal agencies answer the call to help those hit the hardest by pandemic unemployment, are will we continue to let these segments of the workforce deteriorate and fade into the neglected and forgotten fabric of our country?

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Top 4 Online Job Scams to Avoid in 2020

2020 has the United States diving into a recession that is surpassing the Great Depression of the 1930s which can be predominantly attributed to the nationwide effect of the pandemic and its ensuing restrictions. Survivors of the associated lockdowns were able to transition their office jobs from the corporate workspaces to telecommuting work from home adaptations.

Other displaced workers were eligible for special unemployment benefits, while others were not, affecting millions of families across America. When times are rough, it leaves Americans desperate to find ways to take care of their families, and desperate people do desperate things. Sometimes they turn to crime, develop mental health issues, turn to drugs and alcohol which leads to increased domestic violence, and suicidal ideation.

This with the greatest resources, amidst the 2020 pandemic, they turn their attention to online job search. This makes sense based on the fact that the pandemic survivors are finding employment as remote workers working from home.

Then there is that criminal element again, that seeks to exploit Americans in trouble, struggling to find ways to survive in an uncertain world.

1. Secret Shopper

You may receive or respond to an offer to become a secret shopper. Who doesn’t like shopping, and the ability to be paid for doing it? Sounds incredible. As a secret shopper, you are given assignments where you go to a particular store in your area and purchase a specific list of items.

Your job includes forwarding the items to the shopping investigative service that you work for, along with your report on your experience, and an invoice for any expenses incurred for your service. Only you will never be reimbursed or paid for the items you purchased and sent.

2. Remote Payroll Processor

Let’s say you are offered a job to be a virtual payroll processor. The job pays $36,000 a year, and all you need to do is to print payroll checks and send them via UPS or FedEx to employees. You do this for a month, then get your first $3,000 check, generally plus a bonus, which keeps you working diligently until you are notified by your bank that the check did not clear. “No problem,” says your new boss, they are sending a replacement-check plus an additional bonus for your trouble. They trust you will keep up the good work until that one does not clear.

3. Crowd Shipping

Or you land an online job as a crowd-shipping processor for a recognizable online retailer, where you earn $1,500 a month for receiving packages from various warehouse providers, combine the packages and send them to the customer on the behalf of the retailer. You agree to process 20 to 40 packages per month. Not a bad arrangement, as you are earning nearly $40 per package. Almost sounds too good to be true.

Just because you are being contacted by an employer you recognize is no reason to let down your guard because cybercriminals have no problem posing as Fortune 500 companies who exploit and rip-off new remote worker hires. Do not be one of the victims of such a nefarious con, and by all means, do not become an accessory to the criminal activity.

“Sounds too good to be true,” is a common element in these online job scams. Reshipping cons come in many different shapes and sizes. You already know that if it sounds too good to be true, your paycheck is likely to bounce, and you may have played a part in an organized crime syndicate’s reshipping scam and may suffer criminal charges yourself. It is on you to exercise due diligence and check out these offers that sound like they may not be for real.

And you? You will have to try to explain to the authorities why you are not guilty of fraud and counterfeiting and may be subject to prosecution regardless.

The online job con basically looks like you are being offered a legitimate work from home opportunity from a legitimate company. You will be made a generous off. In most cases, you will be offered remuneration that feels like its higher than you might expect.

Generally, in retrospect, most victims of an online job con remember receiving an internal intuitive hit accompanied by the thought that “something doesn’t feel quite right,” about this.

4. Check Fraud

Check fraud is a common element of these felonious fake job scams. It is reported that authentic company checks can be obtained through criminal sources, or cashier’s checks of real banks via the dark web, which clears all initial security clearances by your bank at the time of deposit.

Only later, when your bank is notified by the initiating bank of the fraudulent item are you notified, and by that time, it is too late. You have already been ripped off, and your fake employer is long gone.

Some of these offers will require an upfront fee to qualify for the job being offered, others will prepay you with a phony cashier’s check, which you can use to in a sense pre-pay your expenses to participate or set up your home office. This prepayment can include a sign-on bonus for you to keep above and beyond your startup costs.

Nonetheless, all the while, there is no job, and any check, even if drawn on an authentic business’ account, cashier’s check, or otherwise, will not clear, leaving you holding the money bag.

And if you have performed any “work duties” on the behalf of your masquerading employer, you are out that as well.

Your identity may have been compromised, as you may have given the cybercriminals your sensitive personal and banking data in the application or “employment” process, which they may use elsewhere within the cybercrime syndicate.

 

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At-risk Telecommuting Employees

For those who were cast into the sea of “workhomedness” moths after the initial exuberating, the sheen is fading rapidly after what seemed like it would be a temporary reprieve turned out to be an endless marathon of balancing home and work in what used to be our sacred space called, “home.”

Especially for households that are homes to families, where either one or both parents are telecommuting and working from home, school-aged children are attending school online from home, tending house and taking care of everyday details, like laundry, housecleaning, shopping, and trying to find time for family, all vying for the same space trying to eke out some semblance of life quality.

Top 4 At-risk Telecommuters

Certainly, it is not all fun and games today, as it may have been in the beginning and nerves are wearing thin due to the ongoing challenges associated with this pandemic.

1. Families at Risk

Teenagers feel like they can manage themselves and might even prefer that parents let them fend for themselves, while younger children need more attention, and being excluded from school and daycare centers is putting more pressure on parents who are faced with trying to juggle work and children at home simultaneously.

As the pandemic restrictions linger on, productivity, which was superior (most 30% or more at the outset) in the beginning is starting to decline for remote workers who are trying to manage familial needs while teleworking. It is all a bit overwhelming.

2. Single Parents at Risk

The hardest-hit segment of the telecommuting workforce is especially single mothers working from home, trying to get by on already limited resources. In two-parent households, there are more resources to share the management requirements of a healthy family.

While women are far more qualified to handle emotional trauma than their male counterparts, men are more adaptable to extended periods of time in isolation without social interaction, in general.

The isolation element compounds the working mom from home scenario significantly. This need is easily fulfilled by brief interaction among coworkers, walking to and from breaks, around the copier, or water cooler. Men do not seem to have the need for this sense of coexistence in a troubled world.

Single parents are being forced out of the telecommuting workforce as they are faced with having to make the choice to work or serve the family.

3. Child-free at Risk

And if you think couples or singles without children have it better, it turns out they have their own issues, such as oversleeping and extended work hours without pay. It is breeding a horde of workaholics on house arrest. This opens up an entirely new can of worms to infiltrate an otherwise healthy worker’s brain chemistry.

4. Human Resources at Risk

All this is putting a tremendous amount of burden on the human resources (HR) departments of companies and organizations across the board.

Competition for remote workers is greater than before, and all companies and organizations who are fully embracing the work-from-home model are both snipers and targets. Even though your market area is greatly expanded because your remote workforce need not be limited to your locality, you are now competing nationally for the best potential employees out there.

HR departments also are aware that other companies and organizations are using their employees’ Internet connections to proselyte workers who are currently on their payrolls.

You are going along, thinking everything is going just fine, when all of a sudden, your employees are giving their two weeks’ notice and jumping ship in droves.

It is because your competitors are target marketing and offering them a better deal, right now.

HR and management are now challenged with the greater necessity to focus on employee retention to try to keep the waters shark-proof.

 

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Tiny House Home Office During Pandemic Surge

Tiny homes are springing up in the back yard of houses all over the United States as tiny home offices to help accommodate the needs of telecommuters and other remote workers working from home during the online job restructuring process fueled by the coronavirus.

The current trend to use a tiny house as a home office during a pandemic surge is surpassing using a tiny house as a chic she shed or a $110-a-night Airbnb revenue stream in your back yard.

Increasingly, Americans are coming to grips with the fact that telecommuting and working from home is going to be more than just a temporary fix for adapting to restrictions levied on behalf of the pandemic, and there is a general understanding that in a post-pandemic world, telecommuting will prevail as the standard for the workforce of the future.

While carving out a place to work in your otherwise work-free zone of the home is not bad as a temporary fix, now that we are closing in on a year of doing so, for many, the work from home mandate is starting to feel more like a prison sentence than a welcoming accommodation.

Tiny House Home Office

For the Americans who have the necessary components to accommodate a tiny house, like a deck, driveway, or yard to host the (+/-) 400 square foot tiny homes, they are springing up like dandelions through cracks in the sidewalk, with the intent of using these quaint structures as a tiny house home office.

And it makes sense. If you are used to working in an environment where a clear separation between work and home life is healthy, normal, and possibly even essential, having a closed system workspace is an extremely good idea, for you, your professional career, and your family.

This type of small-footprint home or tiny house on wheels can be put just about anywhere, can be hooked up to your existing services, like water and power, and can have all the mini accoutrements that you might expect to see inside your place of residence.

Once your tiny house home office is installed, you can enjoy the interruption-free privacy of having a freestanding office within a few feet of your home. You still can enjoy all the benefits from remote work, while maintaining the clear separation of workspace and home life that you may have found as empowering or even a responsibility to your family’s best interests.

You can have your own office, with a private bathroom, a mini-kitchen, privacy for videoconferencing, and you could use the loft-area (where the bedroom is generally located) to store all your work-related files, nearly within arm’s reach.

Quarantine Accommodation

Some tiny houses are being used as an upscale method to quarantine family members. It can be an interesting way to spend ten to fourteen days quarantined inside a tiny house, while not having to put the rest of the family at risk of cross-contamination.

When the pandemic restrictions are lifted, and you have an office to return to, you can turn your tiny house into a cozy she shed, or with a little remodeling, you could turn it into an Airbnb rental at over a hundred bucks a night.

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Looking After Telecommuters

Now that it is clear that telecommuting and working from home is the new business model going into the future, it behooves us to take responsibility for changes in the work environment and to address challenges rapidly as they become apparent.

For instance, remote workers do have a tendency to work longer hours (with or without compensation), they suffer from disconnectedness which leads to depression, and their face-to-face communication skills are dwindling as they get lost in isolation.

Employers who are using telecommuters need to take into consideration that this new workforce segment is in the process of developing special needs that need to be addressed before they become problematic, affecting work performance, and the organization’s bottom line.

And for those working from home, they need to be cognizant of their potential to develop these weaknesses and hopefully, be able to cut them off at the pass.

The emerging concern is that the mental health of telecommuters may be at risk.

Corporate or self-imposed teleworker evaluations must be made to ascertain any potential for being at risk in the work from home environment.

Are your employees adapting well and thriving as they are embracing all the benefits of remote work? Or are they experiencing increased stress levels from no longer working in the safety and security of the office environment they were once accustomed to?

Are they enjoying being able to flex their hours to accommodate personal needs, wants, and desires, and enjoying the freedom that comes from telework? Or are they feeling isolated from coworkers and the world, which may lead to dark psychological challenges?

Are your off-site workers upbeat and enthusiastic about their job performance and personal lives, or is their outlook on life, including professional and personal life, deteriorating?

Are your remote employees healthier since they have been telecommuting, or is their health on the decline since they have been working from home?

What does their diet look like when they are working at home? Are they sleeping soundly, or losing sleep? Do they have an exercise routine?

Do they feel enthusiastic and optimistic? Or are they spending more time focusing on fear of what the future may hold, or worrying more?

Employers, or the telecommuters themselves, must take a proactive approach to making sure that this world of turning a part of your living space into an effective workplace has an ultimately positive impact on one’s life in order to make this transition successful.

Some things you can do include:

Shake up your work at home routine for a better life

Decorate your home work-area to your heart’s content. Surround yourself with all the things that make you feel good.

Change your routine up. Take advantage of the flexibility of your work schedule. Take your breaks out of the house.

Get out and take a walk in nature.

Go to your favorite coffee shop and use their Internet to telecommute from occasionally.

Alternate between sitting and standing positions at your desk.

Make connections and communicate with coworkers that are not related to work.

Start an office pool competition, and whoever wins gets the pot or the prize.

Keep in mind that the worker is the backbone of telecommuting. If you are the teleworker, it just doesn’t work without you. Look after yourself, your wellbeing first, and all these other things will fall into place.

 

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How to Find Jobs Online in 2021

Maybe you were not fortunate enough to be sent home from your employer to telecommute and work from home but you still want to join the ranks of remote workers who are enjoying the benefits of working from home. Here are the top resources for getting a job online today.

How to Find Jobs Online in 2021

After you have made sure that you have a good office space carved out from them living space of your home and you have all the materials necessary to do online jobs, or provide your services in these unprecedented times, here are the top job sites to find the jobs online that you are looking for.

Top Three Online Job Resources

If you are looking to freelance, build your own portfolio for remote work gigs, or build your clientele database for providing your services on an ongoing basis, there are resources online that are most effective today to create the connections necessary that will lead to your success as you work from home.

1. Upwork

Upwork is the hippest online tool for making those connections. It is so effective that the key players in our world are using Upwork to make their connections. We are talking about 50 percent of the Fortune 500 companies such as Microsoft and Airbnb, who are using Upwork on a regular basis.

To be an Upwork service provider, you must submit your free application which must be approved before you can start using the service.

Note that this is a paid service, but you don’t have to pay until you get paid. They deduct a percentage of what you earn that ranges from five to twenty percent of the remote work you complete and they handle the secure online transaction on your behalf.

2. Freelancer

Just like the name implies, freelancer.com is the marketplace treasure trove for freelancing gigs. Like Upwork, Freelancer is free to join, and it is easier to participate from the get-go than Upwork whose approval process vets all participants and can be a deterrent to some applicants.

While millions of employers rely on Freelancer for their freelance and crowdsourcing services, they do tend to have lower pay rates than Upwork.

Freelancer provides communication tools, time trackers, invoicing, and handles payment processing.

They charge from $5.00 to 20% depending on the task, and if you let your account dormant, there is a $10.00 per month fee to remain active.

3. Guru

Next up is Guru, which has over a million clients and a whopping satisfaction rating of 99 percent.

Guru caters to a more professional rank of clientele and paid accounts get priority handling in its search results.

Guru provides collaboration workrooms, time trackers, communication platforms, invoicing, and payment processing.

Guru service providers bid on jobs, it is free to sign-up and participates though those with paid memberships get priority placement in search results.

They charge a 9 percent job fee for the free service which is limited to 10 bids per month. Subscription services range from $11.95 to $49.95 a month and feature increased bidding. lower job fees (5% to 9%) and allow for paid search boosting.

Top 10 Online Job Resources

1. Upwork
2. Freelancer
3. Guru
4. Flexjobs
5. Indeed
6. Linkedin
7. Monster
8. Glassdoor
9. LinkUp
10. Fiverr

See Also: How to use Google jobs near me
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Make Your Own Work from Home Job Online

Feeling like you are missing the boat? You see your friends are telecommuting and working from home but you have not been afforded the same opportunity. How would you like to create your own work from home opportunity?

You could wait to be invited to remote working for your employer or even pitch your willingness to work for your current employer by telecommuting, or you could become the master of your own fate and start working from home under your own terms and start your own work at home business.

There are tons of opportunities for you to take a stab on, and in most self-employed remote workers, you will find yourself freelancing, offering services to a few clients (or many clients) to create your full-time income stream.

So, keep that in mind as you prepare to more your self-powered job online, and also note that the remote work services that you offer to provide can be anything you like to do. You need not pigeonhole yourself into any one particular offering.

Of course, before you make the leap, you will need all the tools necessary to conduct your services from your at-home office.

When you start putting yourself out there, you will tend to offer more for less. This is based on insecurity when you are starting out, which may lead to your being overwhelmed, with more work than you bargained for.

If you can avoid burnout, you can take the time to hone your offerings so that you can still offer a value but get more than what you are actually worth. And believe me, you are worth far more than you think you are.

Think about this, whatever any employer is willing to pay you or someone in your field, your value is actually five-times what you or anyone else is getting paid. Now that you are your own CEO, you are entitled to a bigger piece of the action.

Start out with what you think is reasonable, then prepare to continue to raise your rates.

As early as possible, try to wrap your head around the idea that you are it. When you are working for someone else, you are at their mercy, but you have someone to complain to, someone to fix things when they break, someone to back you up when needed. When you are on your own, it is all you. There is no one else to fall back on. This is the price to pay for independence.

You will be in charge of rewarding yourself. No one is there to recognize you for your efforts but you. You are the only one to impress with your prowess, so it is up to you also to reward yourself for a job well done.

You are responsible for your own bookkeeping until you grow to a point where you can hire out that part of your work from home enterprise. If you are not keeping the books, sending out invoices, tracking expenses, then you are not getting paid. It may not be your most desired duties (and it often is not among freelancers working from home) but you must do it unless you consider your services to be a hobby on-the-side.

As a self-employed teleworker, you are responsible for figuring out how to provide your own insurance, benefits package, as well as reporting and paying taxes, because you are now not just one of the many people who work at home, you are your own boss of your own home business.

The good news: No one gets to tell you what to do, what not to do, how to act, dress, or boss you around. You get to join the others who are working from home and enjoying all the benefits of remote work.