Working from home for 8 years – my experience

Well, eight years is a long time and I thought that I should share my own experience. I do see lots of different posts on working from home, passive income, and great part-time opportunities.

I have worked as a translator and project manager for an internet company for many years. It was intense. I had to provide a very high standard of service and had to be available at any time as we had customers from all over the world. When I say any time – I mean it. I worked on weekends and I worked late nights. The pay was not fixed and depended on the bulk work done – hence me working during Christmas and Easter break 🙂 The pay was average and only if I had done 10 hours a day, the pay was worth it.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not complaining. I have done it for a reason. I could stay at home with the kids. I have no regrets. However, my energy supply was limited and once I slowed down, I was not needed…

I think many people don’t see this side of “working from home”. My family members and friends often joked on my account saying that I am on holidays all the time. About that I WAS bitter. Although these were loving people, they did not see the work I did and assumed I didn’t do much if I didn’t go to work in the morning. Of course, they did not know that I was working sometimes till 3 am in the morning, that I was working when sick, and so on. I felt that my work was invisible and not valued. I know many people can make it and work from home with great success. But not me. And I thought that my experience might be useful for someone as we are usually told only the good things and then we lose time figuring things out.

My list for next work-from-home job would be:

1. What is the success rate of this business model, 1 in 10 or 1 in 1000
2. What is the pay structure and job guarantees
3.  Will I have holidays and free time or am I expected to work in different time zones
4. What are the future prospects of this job
5. Make list of advantages and disadvantages

and then decide if it is worth it 🙂

And it is 2024

So, some time has passed. This post got more likes than any other of my posts, interestingly. I still believe what I said. I would just add a few more things:

1. It is really hard to succeed if you are trying to make everything for free
2. The more you invest the more return you will see
3. Often you will not have the time and when you will have the time, you will not have the energy, if you will have the energy, you will not have the willpower, and so on.
4. People will think it is your hobby, and no one will take you seriously unless you start taking it seriously
5. Starting is a big win but it is just a first step
6. Don’t be a perfectionist, it will kill everything you do.