Working from home has its challenges like any other job, but I think at times some of the challenges are just a bit different! I’m not talking about my Internet going down, or my phone like acting up on occasion to fulfill my requirements. Work at Home doesn’t mean easy it just means different!
I contract with Liveops, and have been there since July 2007. I have to admit I never in a million years thought I would grow up, and be an infomercial operator! At times it can be a very nice experience, but at others times I have to admit kicking the file cabinet in frustration. Its not the company that frustrates me its generally the people on the phone! You do need a bit of thick skin at times, and not take offense to people that go out of their way to be downright rude! Learning to keep things in prospective at times is just MUST in this job! If you get offended easily, or get defensive quickly this job just isn’t for you!
The first thing people tell me when I tell them about my job is that they can’t sell for nothing! YES it is a job that sells, but I wasn’t the best salesperson in the world either! I’m not going to tell you I’m stellar at this point, but I sure have come a long way! I was actually shocked when I hit the top 10 percent of the company in certain lines of products. I never saw myself as a salesperson, and I think most of it was just plain being nice to people! There are some I’m sure that are way more pushy than I am, and I have to be honest I don’t think that will ever be part of my selling personality! If you think you must have that I will tell you right now YOUR WRONG! I will keep my top 10% seat for a while, and then I will dip and go back up. In other products lines I may never get above average! It’s a roller coaster for me, and I’m fine with that! I see to many people getting all stressed out over what I call…LIFE! I will never be the salesperson that can sell ice to the Eskimo, and quite frankly I don’t want to be either! I do my best, and there are times I can’t sell anything. I do get disappointed, but I also have to remember tomorrow is another day! If I can’t keep that mindset I will drown!
Everyone starts at the bottom, and you have to work your way up! I get the impression people feel having a work from home job you aren’t required to place as much effort into things. I wish that were true, but its quite the opposite! I read up the products, and I practice the scripts. If they have an interactive training on a product, and there is time in my calendar for the day I will do my best to get there! I also read how other agents handle things, and I have picked up quite a few very nice tips! I’m lucky to have a facilitator I can talk to, and she also helps me over quite a few humps I never thought I could have dealt with! In other words, I do my homework when time is available! I also take those tips I have learned, and push myself past my comfort zone at times. I’m pretty laid back person most of the time, and just adding that extra ‘chipper’ in my voice at times is a challenge! After a while it just came without any effort at all pretty much!
Liveops I can get hours anytime during the day or night. There are periods of time in which I do have to work during family time, but our commits are ½ hour long so it’s not like a huge chuck of time here. I have spoke to quite a few stay at home moms, and really needed some extra cash that speak to me. There are times in which they tell me they are AREN’T sure when they can do this. I have to wonder at times WHY they ask about it then! The job is there 24/7, and you will have to modify the family schedule! We have a couple of mom’s that work during the time their children sleep, and sleep while they are at school! We have homeschooler mom’s that have trained their kids that death will come early if noise happens when the phone rings! We have single parents, retired, disabled people all finding ways of working the schedule! Work at home doesn’t mean anything different than a ‘real job’, and you have to find ways of making that happen! You have to place time and effort into the training all the time. Work at home doesn’t mean easier it means DIFFERENT! If work at home meant easy money with little effort we wouldn’t have the big homeless problem! MOST people would be at home, and others would have YOUR job! I guess I also like sarcasm at times!
I think one of the bigger challeges is people getting out of the employee mindset, and into the independent contractor one! The company doesn’t have to hand you anything! What you are handed is gravy! They aren’t going to tell you what hours to work, and they aren’t going to tell you how you must do it. They will tell you what they feel must be required at times, because if they didn’t they wouldn’t need you! They contracted with you, and told you what their customers need and you agreed to deliver! Times change, requirements change and you don’t have to continue to contract if you feel you can’t do it! You can walk away at anytime! When I started I know my sales volume was in the dumps! I didn’t whine about it I found ways of changing that! If I didn’t adapt my home business wasn’t going to go anywhere. Why would the contractor for my services adapt what their customer requires over my debit? That makes no sense!
If you place yourself in the position to work at home you will get people that have all kinds of ideas about how you have it made! It works for a lot of people, and it’s the best thing for others! Its not some get rich scheme that you only need to place a small bit of effort into! You will have to have self-discipline, and it will be a commitment! You will have one customer screaming their head off over really dumb things, and then the next one loves you to death! If you don’t think you will have to push yourself to hard at times you are better off looking at other avenues! The flexible is awesome at times, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a set of ugliness you don’t have to live with!
Working at homes doesn’t mean easy….it means different!
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