She works from her house, what??

Yes, I am one of those people who "work from home" and yes, I earn a lot and YES I love it!

I started this wonderful journey January 2014. A few months from the New Year were the holidays, (The Philippines is notorious for celebrating Christmas starting September). HOLIDAYS = Expenses. What the heck was I thinking dropping my job after the holidays when all the credit card bills are due?  Its because I needed my MIND more that MONEY. Don't get me  wrong, the people were awesome and the work was ok, the pay was err...not that ok, BUT I am no quitter, I always find the silver lining ( which I realize now one of my weaknesses) and stayed in that job for around 4 years. I was losing my mind because of the workload and the money was for paying bills etc. I am very minimalist so I really did not care for fancy stuff or expensive labels but something just was not right and I had to quit. The hardest part was the transition from working in an office to working from home, you see, I have a family that I am responsible for and I can't risk not having an income, but I realized that the best is yet to come with all the hard work I have been doing.

The "Transition"

I passed my resignation to my lovely boss H. and I told her my reasons, she understood perfectly. I loved my superiors from all my jobs (foreign and local), I am proud to say I had a good relationship with each and everyone of them, but a bump on the road made itself visible when the company's policy was to have me render 30 days then hold my last cut off until I 45 business days after my last day of work. I resigned in December, last day was January, and the pay for the work I rendered was released May after practically being harassed by the HR giving me every excuse on earth on why it cannot be released at this time.

The "WTF"

WTF was I thinking dropping this job during the Holidays? Again, I am a minimalist but I am not a penny pinch-er, I wear my clothes till they fall apart but I buy premium quality stuff that lasts a lifetime. When it comes to my family I have no holds barred especially eating out in gourmet restaurants, buffets etc. I had to charge stuff in my credit card and save my cash for emergencies after the New Year, when I said bye bye to my office job. I practically did not spend anything since I am too proud to ask from my husband for some money. If I wanted to drink soda, I'd just think to myself that it would make me fat. If I wanted a burrito delivered to my house, I just thought it would give me gas. I did not feed the ID and let my Ego, Super Ego talk to me and to actually listen. I learned that this is not going to be a cake-walk and I better work my butt off to get accepted to the gazilion work from home jobs I applied to.

The "My mom saved me again"

I love my mother, not just because she is my mother, not just because she agreed to let me buy a high end computer on her credit card, not just because she refused to give in to my childish demands so I can learn on my own. She actually thought it was absurd to let go of my job that I had for a long time for working at home. My mother is very traditional, she has that Japanese work ethic where she has stayed loyal to her company for being the HR big boss  for 20 years, works 6 days a week. She has moved up the ladder and I admire her for that. I admire her yes, but I don't have that Japanese work ethic influence nor want to work 6 days a week. She even told me to go back to work after 2 weeks after I had my son because that is what she did! I mean come on MOM, its a 2 month maternity leave. ANYWAY, being the stubborn eldest daughter she still supported me and that is why I love her more and what I take away from this chapter of my life.

The "Boom"

Yes! I barely enjoyed my 2 weeks off from the last day of office work worrying about the internet connection and started my first training as a VA. I did my research in the months I was rendering days from my previous job, to have the competitive edge I had to have the best equipment,

-- My 5 mbps wired DSL connection  ( This is the high end standard here in the Philippines, Fiber connection is not available in our subdivision.)

-- My Super high tech TOSHIBA Satellite machine :) too bad the pink one was taken, so I got the blue one.

-- My delightfully pink Logitech h150 Headset with Noise - cancelling mic.

I was trained with fellow work from home newbies, and I was a hit with the clients.

I felt so happy not driving around to work and get to spend my extra time with the family.

I am so happy working from home. :)

xoxo

<3

Anything can be done in 15 minutes!

Ever since I choose to work from home, I did my research and watched Webinars, read a lot of blogs  etc.. But one of the most important things I have learned from them is that in what ever type of job you do, it's very important to time it.

Working from home is not a cake walk, although some people insinuate that we can do what ever we want -- We can't.

You see, working freelance, under an agency or a company that gives the option to telecommute has its challenges. It's still work, we get paid for it may it be hourly or by project. Believe me, there are a lot of temptation especially when you are at home as opposed to working in an office since you are physically incapable of let's say, doing a load of laundry in the washing machine after finishing a page in a spread sheet of 5 pages.

I have been subscribed to www.FlyLady.net for a few years now and I suggest it to everybody working from home or not. It taught me that I can do anything in 15 minutes, it does not need to be perfect but it needs to be done period.

Of course as a VA doing data entry work, you are expected to do your task with accuracy, and for accuracy you need to be alert! How can you even make sure everything is accurate when you are all over the place doing 2 things at the same time? That is where timing comes in, I don't have a small timer ( I think I should get one though) but I use my cellphone's stopwatch and my new favorite site www.online-stopwatch.com, I can set it as a stop watch or a countdown timer that beeps when its done.

  

Multi tasking has been studied to be unproductive, the set 15 minutes will be focused on one job and one job alone. May it be a quick 15 minute break or a 15 minute zone to concentrate on a spreadsheet or on social media marketing, after the 15 minutes I have to take a break or do something else to decrease the risk of burnout because if there is one thing that is an enemy of working in front of computers is the headache you get from eye strain.

I also time my water intake to lessen the headaches and body pain related to the job which is mostly caused by sitting down for long periods. I think this is a good experiment for those who read this, try it only one day or at least an hour and see how productive you can be. :) I am sharing this tip because I have found this to be very helpful and has increased my overall productivity and mood.

xoxo

Pat <3