Step 2:  Define Your Perfect Job

As we discussed in Step 1, the path to work at home success begins with an assessment of your skills, interests, and work preferences.  Step 1 then goes hand-in-hand with Step 2, as completing an assessment of your current skills and interests will have caused you to consider the kind of work you'd like to do.  

Remember, if you've hated doing the kind of work you were doing (or currently do) for an employer at the office, you're not going to like it much better doing it from home.  Having taken the time to complete Step 1, you now know that you have many more work options available to you (possibly some that you've never thought of before).  So, now that you've made the decision to work at home, you owe it to yourself to settle for nothing less than doing work that you enjoy and are interested in doing.  

For some, this concept of getting paid to do what you love is unthinkable.  But, let me let you in on a little secret that will REALLY knock your socks off -- getting paid to do what you love to do is what you SHOULD to be doing.  

If you're not spending your days engaged in work that you find fulfilling and purposeful, if you travel each day to perform work that brings you no joy, if you're tired of feeling unhappy and discontented, it's most likely because you're not spending your time doing what you SHOULD be doing.

When you do work that you love, work that you're passionate about and interested in, the process and activity of working no longer feels burdensome and cumbersome.  Talk to anyone who's doing work they love, and they'll tell you that they couldn't imagine doing anything else.  Do you feel that way about the work you're doing now?

Now, where your assessments helped you to discover your preferences, interests, and current skills, the process of writing a job description for your ideal job will take other external factors into consideration.  Writing your ideal job description will also help you to "weed out" opportunities that, at first glance, seem to fit, but that really don't.  

For example, one of the first things we'll explore is your motivation for wanting to work at home.  Let's say you discover that your primary motivation is to have total control over the hours you work every day.  This would most likely weed out telecommuting from your ideal job description.  That's because telecommuting, while flexible, may not allow you to have TOTAL control over your schedule.  Many companies that allow telecommuting will offer this option to qualified employees, most often, on a part-time basis.  And, you may still be required to keep "regular" business hours during the days you do work from home.

On the other hand, freelancing or owning your own home-based business will more likely afford you this level of control over your schedule.  And, if the results of your assessments show that your interests and work preferences are a good fit for this kind of work, then you'll know that instead of spending your time looking for a work at home job, you should be more focused on learning how to start a freelance career or home-based business.

At the end of this exercise, you should have a basic description that resembles the one below (this is MY perfect job description -- and, also the one I currently earn my living doing):

• Work alone and independently 
• Opportunity for creativity
• Complete decision-making authority
• Opportunity to try my own ideas
• Exercise leadership
• Opportunity to teach
• Help people discover and reach their professional goals
• Help parents learn how to earn a living from home
• Work with the internet
• Total control over my schedule
• Unlimited earnings potential
• Work at home full-time

To get started, grab the results of the assessments you completed in Step 1 (I hope you printed hard copies).  Also, grab some paper and a pen, and complete the following exercise.  There are no right or wrong answers.  The most important thing is that you are HONEST.  Don't waste time thinking that your answers are silly or impossible.  You'll be dead wrong.  Just take your time, and answer each question honestly.

Exercise: Write Your Ideal Job Description

1. What reasons do you have for wanting to work at home? 

2. What kind of work would you like to do?

3. Are there any specific products or services you'd like to be involved with?

4. What level of responsibility do you want to have? (Do you want to make decisions yourself, or are you more comfortable being given a set of instructions to follow?)

5. What kind of work would best match your values?

6. Will you need to learn new skills?  If you do, what skills will you need to learn?

7. What skills do you have now that you enjoy using while working?

8. What kind of qualities do you think you'd need to do the work you'd like to do? (For example, a graphics designer would need qualities like creativity and patience.)

9. Where do you want to live/work?  Would you be willing to relocate?

10. What is the minimum salary you'd accept?  How much money would you need to live the life you want to live? (Remember, when you work at home, you won't have some of the expenses you'll pay when working at a "regular" job.)

11. What benefits do you want.  Which ones will you need?

12. What kind of environment do you want to work in? (For example, do you want to work at home all of the time, or would you like to work in any environment so long as it's not an office?)

13. What kind of control do you want to have over your schedule?

14. How many days per week do you want to work at home?

15. Do you enjoy working alone?  (Some home-based employees have returned to working in an office, because they discovered that they preferred to work around other adults.)

16. What future demand for your job would you want? (Would you want to choose a job that was declining in demand?)

17. What will it take for you to be satisfied in your work?

Now, review your answers and write an ideal job description using the sample format above.

Once you've written your ideal job description, compare it to the list(s) of job options you received from the assessments you completed in Step 1.  Make a list of the job options that interest you most AND that you think will fall under your ideal job description.

Now, let's take a look at each one of those options a little more closely.  Remember, the goal now is to narrow your focus.  Each one of the work options on your list represents a path.  So, you want to be as sure as you possibly can be that you get started on the right path BEFORE you begin to invest time and money.

Take some time to conduct a bit of research on each work option to familiarize yourself with future deman (your best case scenario would be to discover that one of the jobs on your list is in high demand, and that there is a shortage of skilled workers to fill that demand).  Even if you discover that this is not the case, you'll want to focus your efforts on developing your skills and expertise in an area that, at the very least, is showing a growing demand.

In the United States, the U.S. Department of Labor (Bureau of Labor Statistics) publishes the Occupational Outlook Handbook. The Handbook is a nationally recognized source of career information, designed to provide valuable assistance to individuals making decisions about their future work lives. 

Revised every two years, the Handbook describes what workers do on the job, working conditions, the training and education needed, earnings, and expected job prospects in a wide range of occupations.

The Handbook is a fantastic resource for helping you to gain indepth knowledge about a particular occupation.  If you're contemplating a career change to work from home, this resource can be invaluable in helping you to learn what skills you'll need to perform occupations in which you are unfamiliar.

Once you've narrowed down your options to one, you may find yourself standing at a fork in the road.  At that fork, you may be trying to decide whether you want to pursue finding a "job," or whether you want to start your own home-based business, or work independently either freelancing or as an independent contractor.  

To help you make this decision, consider the assessments you completed earlier.  If you were honest, then they would revealed to you the best path for your to pursue.  But even without the assessments, you probably know instinctively which path you want to pursue -- whether that of entrepreneur or employee.  

Whatever you do, don't just stand there.  Choose a path, and take a step -- just take one step.  It's always the hardest one, but once you take it, little by little you'll gain the confidence to keep moving forward.

In addition to any skills you've determined you'll need to sharpen or learn anew, if you're interested in pursuing more "independent" work options like freelancing, independent contractor, or home-based business owner, then your next step should be to also learn what's involved in each of these areas of work (if you're not already familiar with them).  

That way, you can begin to determine which kinds of skills specialized you'll need to learn (if you don't have them already).  For example, if you've decided to start your own business, but don't know anything about marketing, you'll need to add this training to your list of things you need to learn.   

Keep in mind though, that if you pursue a freelance or independent contractor career, you'll still need to have a top notch resume package.

In the coming weeks, I'll be adding more resources for those wishing to pursue these other methods for making money.  To get you started, though, if you think you'd be interested in freelancing, visit AllFreelance.com, or eMoonlighter.com.  These sites are a great starting point to learn about this lucrative field of work.  You'll also find more than 40 articles on freelancing by clicking here.  

Now, click here to move on to Step 3.