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Can You Really Make It Work?
Working at Home
The Win-Win Solution
Just a few years ago, the only people who could enjoy the benefits of working from home were either self-employed or doing menial contract work—your basic envelope stuffer. Today, high-speed Internet access, wireless laptops, and remote email pods have made it possible for many people to work anytime, anywhere—whether from a home office in Bangor, Maine, or an airport in Bangkok, Thailand.
How Your Company Wins
No matter how much you like your office job, getting back and forth to work every day can be a real drag. This book will show you how to join the tens of thousands of people who have done what it takes—negotiated with their boss, found a new job, or started freelancing—to work from home and find balance in their lives.
How You and Your Family Win
Working from home can free you from these distractions, giving you long blocks of time to focus on your work. Of course, your home may present its own distractions, but we'll talk about ways to deal with them later.) Whatever your lifestyle, working from home can free you up to accomplish more in your day.
Are You Ready for Life Without the Water Cooler?
15 14 | HANDBOOK WORK FROM HOME CHAPTER 2 | ARE YOU READY TO LIVE WITHOUT THE WATER COOLER. This chapter will help you assess whether or not you have the personality traits and work habits shared by the happiest and most successful telecommuters.
Working from home is much more than just a new way to get work done. If you have trouble planning ahead, full-time telecommuting may be better for you than part-time.
Will You Like Flying Solo?
17 16 | THE WORK OF THE HOUSE HANDBOOK CHAPTER 2 | ARE YOU READY FOR LIFE WITHOUT THE WATER COOLER. If you're a social butterfly, working from home might not be ideal for you—at least full-time.
Being Your own Boss
19 18 | WORK FROM HOME GUIDE CHAPTER 2 | ARE YOU READY TO LIVE WITHOUT A WATER COOLER. If you follow a regular routine, this will signal to you that the workday has begun and it's time to be productive.
Stepping off the Fast Track
And Merrill Lynch has gone so far as to set up a telecommuting simulation lab where employees can see what it's really like to work from home. If you would like to learn more about how to telecommute successfully, the federal government offers a free online course titled “Telecommuting 101 for Employees.” Then go to www.telewerk.
Where Will the Desk Go?
Finally, having a separate home office allows you to close the door of your work at the end of the day.
Getting out of the House
21 20 | HANDBOOK WORK FROM HOME CHAPTER 2 | ARE YOU READY TO LIVE WITHOUT THE WATER COOLER. Park or other outdoor location 11.5 million Airplane, train or subway 10.6 million Airport, train depot or subway platform 9.1 million.
Who Will Mind the Kids?
You need to use that time to do the laundry, pay the bills, make a few phone calls or simply recharge your batteries. If you're new to the childcare world and need help sorting through your options, you'll find a wealth of advice in Parent Savvy: Straight Answers to Your Family's Financial, Legal & Practical Questions, by Nihara Choudhri (Nolo) .
Can You Do Your Job at Home?
If you come to the conclusion that your job simply isn't suitable for telecommuting, you still have options. Don't worry—you won't be the first person to decide that getting rid of a draining commute is worth a job change.
Desk Jobs Work Best
Can you divide your week into office days and days when you may need to do other types of activities, such as client meetings or site visits. He uses the Internet for legal research, but also relies on Internet cafes and e-mail.
Can You Be a Team player From Home?
As telecommuting grows in popularity, more executives are rejecting the corner office and working from home instead. Employers are offering telecommuting as a way to recruit top executives who don't want to relocate, and research shows that more of these top professionals want the same work-at-home benefits their employees enjoy.
Can Your Job Be Neatly Scheduled?
Does Your Job Require personal or Client Contact?
What equipment Will You Need?
Although you will want to save on equipment, this does not mean compromising your health. Additionally, your employer will want to know that you are implementing the same health measures at home as they do for on-site employees.
Does Business Travel Already Take You
If you can answer "yes" to all of these questions, you're in a good position to make a smooth transition to remote work. Do you do most of your tasks independently or, if you are part of a team, do you work independently on your part of the project.
If Your Current Job Isn’t Teleworkable
If you are committed to the idea of remote work, you can be sure that you will be able to find a way to earn a living without leaving home - regardless of your background, skills or education. If your current job or career is not compatible with telecommuting, you need to be more inventive.
Making Your Case
Whether you're hoping to stay with your current employer or start fresh with a new one, getting approval to work from home will take more than saying, "How about that?" asking to work from home is a big step that could affect your future with the company. If you tell your employer that you'd like to work from home because you don't want to miss a moment of your new baby's development, or because you'd rather be at the gym than fighting rush hour traffic, your work-from- house proposal may not even get off the ground.
Is Your office Ready for Teleworkers?
We will then advise you on setting up a face-to-face meeting with your manager where you will explain the plan you have worked out and submit your written proposal for further review. The more connected technology your employer has, the stronger your argument that you can work from home will be.
Transform Your personal Reasons Into Business Reasons
It's not practical to come to the office at 5am, but I could start work that early if we could arrange for me to work from home. I think the best all-round solution would be to continue here, with a change of location to work from home.
Line up the Facts That Support Teleworking
The freedom to work part of the time from home can be a significant benefit, which an employer can offer without spending a cent. Support from a government agency may make your employer more open to the idea of having you work from home.
Writing up Your Telework proposal
If you plan to work from home more than one day a week, you must decide whether to schedule your telecommuting days back to back or stagger them. You simply have to explain to your manager that you will live up to the same standards as other employees.
Will Do From Home
I treat the work I do at home with the same degree of discretion and confidentiality as if I were working on location. Because the number of hours I work does not change, my salary and employment conditions remain the same once I work from home.
If your employer is not convinced of the mutual benefits of telecommuting, you may need to offer additional incentives. For obvious reasons, we don't recommend offering this until you've already encountered a lot of hesitation from your employer.) or maybe you can give up your parking space or share your office space with a colleague, so your employer can immediately realize cost savings .
Be Ready for objections
To alleviate these concerns, emphasize your strategy for staying connected to your workplace. your employer may also be worried that you will miss out. important office events, such as on-site client meetings. Instead, reassure your employer about the measures you will take to prevent injuries at home.
Finding a New, Teleworkable Job
Find a Telework-Friendly employer
Check the website of any company you might be interested in: companies that have posted ads or companies worth sending to. When you reach the interview stage, assume you will be working on site.
Find an Advertised Work-at-Home Job
If you occasionally work from home in the evenings and on weekends, for example, explain that you already have experience in carrying out substantive work independently. The more flexible you can be about your income and work responsibilities, the easier it will be for you to find a job that you can do from home.
Telework Jobs You Might Not Find Advertised
To search for home-based telemarketer positions, go to major job boards like monster.com and Careerbuilder.com. To learn more about becoming a virtual concierge, the best place to start is the viPdesk website (www.vipdesk.com).
Avoid Schemes and Scams
If you're convinced you'd never fall for a work-at-home scam, think again. Christine Durst, telecommuting expert and author of The Rat Race Rebellion, reports that there are 42 work-at-home scams for every legitimate work-from-home position.
Go Freelance!
In return, however, you'll enjoy the freedom to work how, when and where you want. We'll also give you important tax and record-keeping tips to help you run your freelance business smoothly and stay out of trouble with Uncle Sam.
Is Freelancing for You?
Instead, you have to hope that you get enough projects to get by. The reason for the different tax treatment is that employers are legally required to match Social Security and Medicare taxes for employees.
Finding That First Freelance Job
Elance (www.elance.com), Sologig (www.sologig.com), Guru (www.guru.com) and Hotgigs (www.hotgigs.com).
Setting Rates
If this doesn't put you on top of what to do, you'll need to make some adjustments, either to your rate or the number of hours you plan to work. One way you can protect yourself from runaway flat fee projects is by setting a cap on the total number of hours you will work.
If you want to draft your own agreement from scratch, you'll find step-by-step instructions in Working for Yourself: Law and Tax for Independent Contractors, Freelancers, and Consultants by Stephen Fishman (nolo). You are most likely to encounter classification problems if you work full-time for a single client in the client's offices.
Taxes for Freelancers
If you hire employees, you'll need to keep lots of records and file quarterly and annual tax returns with the IRS. If you have employees, you will need to keep lots of records and submit quarterly and annual tax returns to the IrS.
Telework and Taxes
In this chapter, we'll look at how your tax life changes when you're a home employee.
If you pay for something out of pocket, have your employer reimburse you. If your employer won't reimburse you for work-related expenses, then you can deduct your work expenses when you file your personal income tax return.
The Home office Deduction
If you are lucky enough to qualify for the home office deduction, see "Claiming the home office deduction" in Chapter 6 for detailed information on the rules about qualifying and claiming the deduction. If you qualify for the home office deduction, but the 2% of AGI rule greatly reduces your deduction (or eliminates it entirely), you have another option.
Working for an employer in Another State
So if you find yourself telecommuting for a New York employer, whether from home or from a satellite office outside of New York, be prepared to pay double taxes on the portion of your income you earn from home.
Filing Your Taxes
Strategies for Work-at-Home Success
Ready, Set, What?
If you find that you're comfortable with a regular schedule that's different from that of your office colleagues, let them know about that schedule—with reassurances and information about how to reach you during regular business hours.
Draw Limits for Friends and Family
Show Your Stuff
Come out of Your Cave
Think of those hourly lattes or scones as rent for your table, the payment of which is crucial to the survival of any business that welcomes busy squatters. Keep cell phones and PDAs on vibrate, and when they buzz, head straight for the door.
Keep Yourself in the Loop
Don’t Hit “Send” When You’re Mad
Check in With Yourself
If you're working too hard, schedule yourself for some hikes, classes, or events with friends. If you're getting too little done, try to figure out what the most important distractions are, and eliminate them.
Check in With Your Manager and Coworkers
While at home, you can become the next domestic god or goddess, roasting a chicken while you work. As USA TODAY reporter Bob Minzesheimer noted, Sperling and Sander give high marks to several satellite cities that attract telecommuters, including Bellingham, Washington (No. 2) and Colorado Springs (No.
Index
Beat Your Ticket: Go to Court and Win – National Edition ..$21.99 BEYT The Criminal Law Handbook: Know Your Rights, Survive the System ..$39.99 KYR Everyone's Guide to Small Claims Court – National Edition . .$29.99 NSCC Everyone's Guide to Small Claims California Court ..$29.99 CSCC Fight Your Ticket and Win in California ..$29.99 FYT How to Change Your Name in California ..$34.99 NAME Legal Research: How to Find the Law and Understanding ..$39.99 LRES Nolo's Deposition Handbook ..$34.99 DEP Represent Yourself in Court: How to Prepare and Try a Winning Case ..$39.99 RYC Win Your Case: A Judge's Guide to Representing Yourself in the Supreme Court of California ..$39.99 SLWY HOMEOWNERS, LANDLORDERS AND TENANTS. Long Term Care: How to Plan and Pay for It ..$19.99 ELD Social Security, Medicare & Government Pensions ..$29.99 STD SOFTWARE Call or visit our website at www.nolo.com for special discounts on software.
