As Anne and Lori both point out, questions are good. Questions that have no end? Not so good. While Lori and Anne quip about getting questions related to freelance writing and blogging, I am going to take it a step broader and poke at starting your own home business.
You see, I now get BOTH types of questions and because I’m a community manager at MothersClick, we see these questions ALL. THE. TIME.
It’s not bad to ask them but the answers can be so complex… Why, people have written books about starting a home business. You would think that those really wanting to work from home would do their homework, just as Lori suggests and read some books about it – or better yet, get some free home business information from the Internet (there’s tons out there).
One of my favorite home business questions is “Can you really make money working from home?” The easy question of course, is yes. Yes, you can make money working from home. I do. Lori does, and countless other freelancers, and home business owners do too.
The harder answer to that question is still yes; but it requires a lot of hard work and it won’t happen overnight. To make any money working from home you have to put in the time to get your business off the ground. You have to continually market it, network, and you have to actually work (and don’t just do a good job; do a GREAT JOB). In my opinion, lead generation marketing, affiliate marketing and MLM programs are not the same thing.
“What kind of work at home jobs are there?” is another one my favorite questions. When you ask a question like this, it sends the message that you want us, the experienced freelancers and home business owners to do the legwork for you and just tell you. We are all for offering you help; especially if you’re a mom like I am. I get that you want to be home with your kids, having kids is one of the biggest reasons people look for stay at home jobs in the first place, but don’t expect us (who do have deadlines and clients) to go through the thousands of work from home job opportunities available for you.
I believe that everyone who wants to work from home should be helped. However, I too expect you to do some homework on your own so that I can help you better. The more specific you can be with your questions, the easier it’s going to be for me to help you and the more likely you are to get a relevant and useful answer from me. Neither one of us will be wasting our time and everyone is happy.
How do handle the questions about working from home that you get?
Ooo, I feel like a celebrity! Thanks for the mention and for explaining the business side of those questions. I guess we all have the same issues with too little thought going into some of the questions. It’s understandable sometimes, but there are days I wonder just how much work these people are willing to do on their own.
Thanks Lori – I’m trying a new thing… to be more helpful than rantful here – how am I doing?
I wonder too how much work people are willing to do so I definitely agree with you and Anne that we can’t be their mothers. They have to do some of the legwork – otherwise how can we help? I’m stunned that I get questions on freelance writing too but I still tend to get more general ones about working from home and I’m all for helping but sheesh! Sometimes I don’t how to help when they really don’t know what it is that they want to know!