Telecommuting: Tips to Find Your Perfect Balance Between Work and Family
by Barb Niehaus, moms-home-work.com

As a telecommuter of over 12 years, I am frequently asked for advice and help on working from home. It's a time consuming, but by no means impossible, task. Patience, tenacity, commitment and some "inside" advice from this author will help you in your search for "the perfect balance between work and family". With four children ages 6-12, I can vouch that I would never work at outside employment again. My schedule allows me the freedom and flexibility to drive my kids back and forth to school, volunteer in their classrooms, attend daytime functions and generally "be there" for them. Relinquishing my company-paid health insurance and 401K seemed a small price to pay in exchange for the rewards reaped.

Since the onset of working from home in 1987, I have worked both as an offsite employee and most recently, a self-employed webmistress and newsletter publisher. My 12-year Marketing Coder position was obtained from a small three-line classified ad our local paper. I called, interviewed with the Operations Manager and, as they say, "the rest is history". Do not discount newspaper ads even if they don't mention the possibility of working offsite. Were companies to print that in their ads, they would be deluged with responses. Study the classifieds and respond to those that would lend themselves to telecommuting: data entry, administrative assistant, desktop publishing, graphic design, sales, customer service. Apply, get your foot in the door and when you've proved your capability and efficiency, present your employer with a telecommuting proposal. If currently employed in a potential work-at-home position, approach your company. Worst-case scenario is that you'll have to stay put in the office while continuing your WAH job hunt. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Vitally important is that your skills are up to date and polished. Most companies will require a working knowledge of Microsoft applications, databases, FTP, Internet experience. A wonderful FREE site that I recently discovered is http://www.freeskills.com. They provide online training in Microsoft, Unix, Lotus, Novell, Mac, Corel, Desktop, databases, Internet, graphics and more. Take advantage of this resource and ensure that your resume outshines all other applicants.

Are you a frustrated writer? Employ search engines to locate online sites that will publish your articles for exposure, and in many cases, pay for your knowledge. Choose a subject that you're passionate about, whether it's web design or showing dogs. There is a market and audience for every topic imaginable. Start off with:

http://www.powerprose.com

http://www.themestream.com (editor's note: this site is no longer in business)

and http://www.ideamarketers.com.

Subscribe to newsletters that will provide you with updated work-at-home jobs. I publish Moms @ Home Working, a free daily newsletter that mails telecommuting jobs every easy to my readers. To subscribe, send a blank email to: subscribe@moms-home-work.com. I hear weekly from my subscribers who have succeeded in finding a position through the newsletter.

Search for hundreds of WAH jobs at my site http://www.moms-home-work.com. We link to online job banks and other sites for telecommuting. Listed under our WAH link is a list of "telecommute friendly" companies across America that currently employ offsite workers or will consider the possibility.

Stay focused and you will find your "perfect balance". Just with the online jobs that I have secured in my daily search for listings, my income is equal to what the average women earns working outside the home. Consider the cost of child care, gas, career wardrobe, and lunches, and my net salary is in most cases more. The most important "perk" of all, though, is that I am able to be a hands-on mom; isn't that the goal we're all striving to achieve?

To subscribe to the free daily ezine of Moms @ Home Working, packed with at-home jobs, business tips, freebies and more, send a blank email: subscribe@moms-home-work.com

Barb Niehaus of Cincinnati, Ohio, created Moms @ Home Working, http://www.moms-home-work.com, to assist women who are looking for "the perfect balance between work and family" -- being a WAHM.!

Copyright 2004 by Barb Niehaus. Reproduction without permission prohibited.