Have you ever stopped to account for all the time and money you spend commuting to and from your job? When determining whether it would benefit you to work from home, start right there with how much you spend on gasoline, bridge tolls, parking, car maintenance, or public transportation.
You will likely see where a big chunk of your income goes out of pocket. If you have children then you could add the cost of child care and the related transportation for that. So technically right from the start, if you work at home, you will have money in your pocket that wasn’t there (for long) when you had a job.
Additionally you must consider the intangible benefits of working from home as they are of paramount importance. One is that you will have much less stress without the commute and office politics. You may say ‘eh, stress no big deal’ – but it is – people actually die from stress-related diseases. Part of this equation is that when you have a home business you have more time for exercise and fresh air so there are at least two ways it helps you stay healthy.
Another intangible benefit of working from home is that you have more time for your children. Whether you can cut out child care and do it yourself while you work at home, or just by using all the commute time as ‘play’ time with them, your child is benefiting from the arrangement more than you probably realize. You probably just accepted that you rarely spent time with the kids, because there was no alternative that you knew of. You have to work. However all a child understands is you are hardly ever there.
To think realistically there will be obstacles and challenges to getting your life transitioned to working from home. The most efficient way would be to start building your business part-time. Keep your day job as long as you need the income. Quit only when you are secure that you have sufficient money to cover your living expenses should you quit your job if at all possible. If you are being ‘let go’ (laid off, etc.) the company should provide severance, unused vacation days accrued and pay in lieu of notice if applicable. You should be eligible for unemployment insurance or have a healthy savings account and this will help tide you over while you find at least a part-time job for the next step in building your own business.
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