Upside Downsides to Working From Home

There are countless benefits to working from home. You can work on your own schedule, you can wear whatever you want, and you don’t have anyone breathing down your neck or barking ridiculous orders at you. But some of those upsides can actually be downsides as well, depending on how you let them affect you. Except for that last one, that’s pretty much always a pro. Let’s take a look at some of the upside downsides to working from home, and what you can do to make them work for you.

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What Are the Upside Downsides to Working From Home?

An upside downside can be a pro or a con, depending on how you use the situation. Will you let these things affect you negatively? Or, will you make them your bitch and own the remote work realm?

You Don’t Have a Set Schedule

This is amazing because you can wake up whenever you want and let your day flow according to your personal needs. But this also means you need to be a self-starter. It’s easy to stay in bed all day if you don’t have that alarm clock waking you up in the morning. Try and stick to the same sleep schedule every night and wake up fairly early to get a jump on the day. The later you sleep, the more sluggish you feel when you climb out of bed.

You Don’t Have a Boss

Okay, so you may have a boss if you work from home, or you may be a self-employed freelancer. In either case, you don’t have a boss that’s around when you’re working. This may not seem like one of the downsides to working from home, but it can cause issues if you don’t hold yourself accountable. Aside from being a self-starter, you need to be motivated enough to keep yourself on task. To avoid getting distracted by things like Facebook or YouTube, try a free social blocker app.

There’s No One to Talk to

Depending on whether you’re an introvert or an extrovert, this one may lean a bit further towards pro or con in your book. Some people enjoy the camaraderie that comes along with working on a team. Make sure to hang out with your friends outside of work to keep a good social/career balance going on. Of course, now with the pandemic in play, everyone’s sort of been forced to become an introvert.

There’s No Job Security

This may or may not be true in your case, but if you’re self-employed – it’s the cold, hard truth. Based on a typical career model, there’s no room for advancement within a company. However, depending on how you look at it, there’s actually all the room for growth. If you work hard enough, you’ll create your own advancement opportunities.

Getting Paid Can be a Hassle

The process of getting paid can be one of the downsides to working from home. When you’re a freelancer, getting paid works a bit differently than it does in a typical job. Some clients may pay you on a set date every month. But most of the time, you will be sending invoices and getting paid when the client chooses to pay you. You also never know what a client’s payment options will be, so it’s best to have a few routes for them to choose from. PayPal is popular almost everywhere and can be a good alternative to wire transfers. The PayPal prepaid card acts just like a debit card and allows you to instantly use your funds. Sign up for your card here and get $20 free when you load your first $40.

Interested in working from home but unsure of where to start? Check out this list of online companies hiring now!

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