So you say you want to work at home!  Find that perfect job that pays you a good salary, possible benefits, a flexible work schedule, a balance so to speak so you can help out with the income and be at home with the kids.  This actually can be done in our world today but what exactly are you looking to do and then again are you sure?  Let's review this first.

  I've been working at home for a Third Party Administrator now for 10 years, full time employee, full benefits, etc.   This pretty much fell into my lap ten years ago, I latched on to it like a fly hitting the sticky paper!   I was in the insurance business and was getting tired of the constant backlog, overtime and the politics that go on inside the office and watching all the others try to beat each other up over that "ladder issue", you  know, climbing and such!
I was not interested in that ladder anymore, I valued my home life and just needed a decent income.  Our daughter at the time was 14 and it was killing me knowing I had been working the majority of her life and wanted desperatly to have some sort of mom-daughter relationship before it was too late.  So here I was.  We transformed our spare room into an office and away I went.  I wanted desperatly to make sure I kept this job, so I did everything I normally would of done from Monday through Friday.  I got out of bed at 5:30, had some coffee, took a shower, picked up a few things around the house and started my  "job" promptly at 8:00.  Ten years later, I do the exact same routine!

  Why do I say let's review this, because so many people I come across when they ask me what I do for a living and I tell them I work at home, always, always come back with " Wow, how great it would be to work in your pajamas every day!"   Really, is that what everyone thinks will get you a paycheck for 10 years straight?   No.   If you want to work at home you had better believe and understand, just because you no longer have a boss looking over your shoulder, you should still think that you do!  Some may be able to do a full day's work in there P.J.'s and house shoes and braless.  One of the girls that also works from home in this company pretty much does ( But I also know she takes her showers and changes clothes during the work day),  Ok, that's her, not me.  But I thourghly believe you still have to have some discipline in you to get any work done.  My work is production, so depending on how much I do during a day, depends on how much my next quarterly salary will be.  So make sure you know what your getting yourself into,  some companies may be more laxed, mine isn't and never has been.  As I said, we are in a production world, I have to produce! 

  Being said that I have been working for this company now for 10 years and 10 more years behind that in this world of insurance and production I began to wonder what else was out there in the big telecommuniting world, what else could I do.  So for months I've been pulling into all kind of sights for WAHM, and good gosh what rip offs!  Come on ladies, get wise do not go and follow all of these leads.  The majority of them are all losers!  Unless, of course you want to do site surveys a few times a day and earn $10.00 a month.  Really, what a waste of time.

  Ok, so word to the wise from someone who has been in the real world,  their are "real jobs" out there.   But they are not going to come and knock on your door, you have to find them and in some cases you may have to work for them, up front, in the office to gain that "at home" job.  But in the long run, is it really worth it?   Second dilema; the acutality of being at home and work.  This is not always what it is that we put in our minds.  We picture the ease of no more communiting ( which is the best part), no more office politics ( are you really going to miss this?), and the biggest factor of all, "the isolation"!  
 

  Here is the reality, the isolation you may have to contend with is huge.  As I said earlier, I started working at home 10 years ago when my daughter was 14, she is now 25, divorced with 2 small children who have all moved back in with us!  Another story, another time, another category!  My day never ends, I am busy yes from 8:00 to 4:00 with my "main job" the paying one.  Recently I joined at Direct sale company that I love.  This is not something I would normally do, I never thought I would do the "home party" setting, but I love this product, the company is diversified and lets us sell this in many, many ways, plus it sells itself.  All I do is show up, set it up and it seems the people move me out of the way to get to it!  Sales have been fabulous!  My reason for this is "isolation".  I found that I needed something to get me out!  Isolation is huge, in time.   For me it took 10 years, others may not be so long, so word to the wise, think about this.  I truthfully would prefer a job that had me in the office at least once or twice a week.  I think this is monumental to the livelihood of sanity.   See, I can pretty much do what I want here in my "at home" job setting.   But there is no other presence here but me.  Now, don't get me wrong, I like me very much.  I'm a pretty diverse, interesting person with a wide range of interests, but even I get bored with me!