Does anyone work from home or is self-employed?

[gunslinger_burrito]

In my seemingly neverending quest to get out of my retail job, I thought I'd see what kinds of jobs can be done from home. What do you guys do? I've been commuting 30 minutes each way to work these days, and I'd like to spend less time driving..... I'm not sure that there are entry-level jobs around here that will pay enough for me to just try and switch jobs. I'd even be happy to be able to drop to part time at my current job if I could make enough money doing something else.

Just looking for some ideas. Thanks dewds!

[The_Active_Conundrum]

Thing about working from home is you have to have a lot of drive to do it. Its worse than online college. Online classess you can at least be a dork and eat doritos and watch cat videos for a couple hours before you get serious.

[MEC]

Deltaphoenix started a similar thread (viewtopic.php?f=42&t=45812&hilit=Apple) and said he found something through http://www.flexjobs.com.

[Eivind August]

Freelance journalist-ish. Not sure I'd recommend it, as you need a steady stream of «sales» for it to work. I'm lucky, being used almost weekly/bi-weekly by a major newspaper. But if you can write and are willing to spend time pushing your stuff, it's pretty sweet. Income is still variable, though.

[sonidero]

Is this thread 3 years old???

It's all about yo skills and how they in turn pay yo bills... I think you could parlay your art into a freelance work from home thing... Your in a big city with lots of Breweries and Medicine shops that should always need new artwork so go network...

[gunslinger_burrito]

Is this thread 3 years old???

It's all about yo skills and how they in turn pay yo bills... I think you could parlay your art into a freelance work from home thing... Your in a big city with lots of Breweries and Medicine shops that should always need new artwork so go network...

It might as well be 3 years old

I'm starting to get in touch with people though. I hadn't thought of the pot-shops yet....

[Deltaphoenix]

Hey, yes I did just go through figuring out how to find out more about this. Flexjobs.com is great. It filters out BS stuff and the employers and positions have been verified, there is a subscription fee but it is reasonable and you can get coupons to save a good chunk when you sign-up. There are things like customer service, event ticketing, etc. that can be done in the evenings or during the day. You can probably get $14/hr or so for positions like this. You of course need a decent computer and decent internet speed. Maybe a VOIP phone. All of these become tax right offs. Plus there are other types of positions on this site depending on experience/education.

I would say that if you are open to working some alternative hours and are willing to apply to a ton of places, you will find something that works for you.

[jfrey]

I work from home part of the week. Graphic design.

[Faldoe]

I paint houses (interior/exterior), doing landscape maintenance, odd jobs, construction. Mostly painting but I'm pretty much an independent contractor. Don't work full-time ,cause it drives me crazy, and I'm in grad school (though not in classes over the summer).

[Paul_C]

I've been repairing guitars from a workshop in my house for the last 12 years, but I've never made a huge amount of money from it.

[tabbycat]

i would recommend having something part-time regular hours and pay, just to give you a constant cashflow, and then work around that as best you can with whatever you can do, how and whenever you can do it.

freelancing is very erratic. and there will be dry periods, sometimes worryingly long, when nothing is coming in yet all your outgoings will continue regardless. having a little regular part-time thing going just gives you a buffer against the worst of it. until you build up a good head of steam and a reliable list of clients.

retaining a little part-time job can also provide useful motivation, because if it is slightly annoying it will drive you to get out. whereas if you are already out it can be tempting to feel you've already done it, even though the replacement cashflow isn't actually in place yet.

best of luck with it.

btw, have you seen wes anderson's 'rushmore'? there's a bit where herman asks max "what's the secret, max?" and max replies "find something you love to do and do it for the rest of your life". corporate america tries very hard to suggest a link between achievement and money, because it wants you to cast your ambitions and dreams aside and slave for it.
but max is right and they are all wrong. achievement is capturing who you feel you are as a person in what you do. you'll know it when you feel it. write an album, build a house, get your pilot's licence, whatever...
obviously you need a minimum income to pay bills, but balance making money against what you want to do. don't replace what you want to do with it.

[rainlet]

Just chiming in, I currently work from home about half my hours. I'm a software developer. It's actually a great field if you want to work from home, a lot of places are totally cool with it, at least for part time. Pay is good, and software is one of the few fields remaining where you can teach yourself and get a reasonable job without actual schooling.

Now, I'm going to have to stop in a couple weeks, since I'm switching to a new company. They're going to lock me in a windowless room, but the upside is that I'll make enough money to finally get the family out of debt, so...

[D.o.S.]

I work from home. Makes it kind of hard to leave the house.

[Sparrow]

btw, have you seen wes anderson's 'rushmore'? there's a bit where herman asks max "what's the secret, max?" and max replies "find something you love to do and do it for the rest of your life". corporate america tries very hard to suggest a link between achievement and money, because it wants you to cast your ambitions and dreams aside and slave for it.
but max is right and they are all wrong. achievement is capturing who you feel you are as a person in what you do. you'll know it when you feel it. write an album, build a house, get your pilot's licence, whatever...
obviously you need a minimum income to pay bills, but balance making money against what you want to do. don't replace what you want to do with it.

Great Advice i should watch Rushmore now.