How I did it: This changed my life. Completely. It mended a quarterlife crisis. It helped with my anxiety problems. It gave me hope and control and freedom all at once. What it didn't give me is financial security, but I have the attitude that that is only a matter of time. And PLEASE if you feel like I did, don't give up and try to stay optimistic.

I tried to force myself to follow a 'traditional' career path and failed miserably - not in the workplace, ironically, but with myself. I felt uneasy, I felt anxious, I felt unhappy, angry, annoyed, bored, purposeless, the list goes on.

Finally after taking a break from the corporate world to do musical theater with children, I knew I couldn't go back to an office, and as fun as the theater camp was, I didn't want to do that fulltime either. So I promised myself that if I wasn't able to find work from home opportunities after all of that, I would have to go back. But I was going to try first!

So I reached out to companies with my resume, tried to network instead of just blindly emailing and replying to jobs. What worked was a combination of both - I got an on-site job in a big city, found that I was uncomfortable, talked to my boss about how I was struggling with some claustrophobia/overwhelmed issues and miraculously he said "Well we like you though! Would you want to stay with us and work from home instead?" YES PLEASE! Now, I'm in charge. I'm paid by the project instead of by the hour so it's flexible and I know I'm being rewarded solely for the effort I put in, not just because i show up and sit around. It motivates me but also helps me to feel like I can run an errand or lie down if I'm sick and not feel like I need someone's permission.

I also work on-site somewhere 2 days a week, so my life isn't completely work from home yet. But all in due time... : )

Lessons & tips: To mildly counteract what someone else said about earning $10-15 an
hour... It all depends what field you're in, the type of jobs you get or
are looking for, and the expectations you present to a potential
employer. Sometimes it ends up being close to that for me if I take
particularly long to finish a project, but other times it could be $50+
an hour.

Big lesson: Work your network. You HAVE to know someone, anyone, that could maybe know someone else who might be able to use your services.

Don't give up.

Be disciplined.

Do a lot of reading about other people's success to get inspired, but also don't read so much you feel overwhelmed by other people's success stories and get thinking you can't do it.

Figure out what's most important to you about it - is it the freedom of being away from an office forever or is it really just that you hate where you work now and would really like any kind of more freeing, happy job?

Don't expect to make more money right away, but don't assume you can't or won't. Hope for it but don't get so set on it that you're discouraged if you're not raking it in right away.

Don't burn bridges with prior employers. They may suck when you work there, but if they hire you for consulting or other work from home type arrangements part time, you won't have to deal with the people and you can just do your work and get a paycheck in the mail.

Get some rest. It's easy to get obsessed and determined and burn yourself out thinking you can't catch a break. Take a little time to yourself and force yourself to turn the computer off or close your resume for a couple of days. It will feel to you like you're letting opportunities pass you by, but in reality you're doing yourself a huge favor by stepping away temporarily so you can approach it more freshly.               

Resources: LinkedIN

Building a personal/professional network

Reading industry blogs to figure out how to market my services

Building a solid portfolio of work examples

Completely changing career fields for a Summer to wash my hands of corporate life and start fresh.

May 16, 09:38AM PDT | 1 comment | 2 cheers