How to Change Your Career and Work From Home

So you’ve decided to change your life and work from home. Until now, you have not been able to spend time with your kids. Or maybe you have not even had enough time for yourself.

Perhaps, in this dark time where the Covid-19 virus makes us second guess whether or not to hug a parent has made you evaluate what is and is not important in your life.

Or maybe, you’ve recently been made redundant due to said virus and you’re looking at your skills against your career options and are trying to work out where to go from here.

It’s a scary and overwhelming place to be. I should know as I have been there and I have done that.

Today, I am happy to report that I have two online businesses that allow me to work at home.

I started a leading car broker website in Melbourne where I help people who tell me “I want to sell my car fast in Melbourne” as well as offering a car buying service in Melbourne all from my own home.

Because I like to stay busy, I also run a digital marketing company in Melbourne which offers web design services, SEO services and website disaster recovery services. This business is also run directly from my own home.

 

My Career Change to Working From Home

Formerly, I worked as a marketer for a number of automotive organisations and was a university teacher.

I’ll be the first to admit that it has taken a lot of courage and effort to get myself to the point I am at currently. But it has been worth fighting for.

What I want to do now is provide you with my top tips for making your own personal journey into working from home.

 

Trends in changing careers and working from home

With my SEO and digital marketing skills that I use in my own Melbourne website design business I found  some interesting trends.

The first trend is that following Google Search terms are searched most frequently in Australia:

• Career change at 30
• Career change at 40
• Career change at 50

This shows that people of all ages and stages of life are looking to change their careers.

What’s even more interesting for me was to discover that people are searching the term ‘working from home’ on Google. This search term alone is used up to 100 times more often than the above!

Is there a relationship between working from home and changing careers? Absolutely. The related search terms proved this to me.

 

Why Work From Home?

Why do so many people want to change their career and work at home?

There are so many possible reasons. These include:

• The desire for more free time
• The desire to earn more money
• The desire to change your lifestyle
• The desire to spend your time on your terms
• The desire to use your god given talents elsewhere
• The desire to work in a new or emerging industry
• And many more.

Maybe one or more of these reasons have personally resonated with you? Or maybe you have other reasons that haven’t been listed…. Either way, you need to find your own purpose and pursue it.

 

How Can I Start A Home Business?

This is the tricky part. You need to plan this transition from ditching the 9-5, to working from home and this might be dependent on your situation.

For me, I was able to work part time for someone else as I built up my home business. Here is where the career change part comes in.

What do I mean by this? I started teaching at University despite having no teaching qualifications or experience.

I was able to cold call my way into that line of work by via my unique selling proposition (i.e. the benefits that I can offer the University).

Interestingly, I use the exact same technique when prospecting clients who require the services of a car broker in Melbourne and for clients who need a website designer in Melbourne.

Cold calling people to sell your services (and yourself) may seem daunting at first. It certainly did for me! But it will give you some much needed sense of achievement and will develop your skills at the speed of light.

It is vital to learn to deal with rejection. Because it will happen again and again.

What will keep you going? The knowledge that rejection you deal with will ultimately lead you to success.

The way that you make the transition will depend upon your own situation.

 

Are There Any Other Gotcha’s when Working from Home?

Just one….

You will encounter people who will unwittingly discourage you from working from home or making a career change.

Understand that this is no fault of their own but they may have limiting beliefs that they place upon themselves. Unfortunately, discouraging comments from them whether they are subtle or otherwise will be expressed.

You will need to rise above those. I have found that meditation has helped a lot.

Also, looking at those who have made the successful career change transition and have successfully launched a home business has helped dispel any self-doubt that has crept into my mind.

 

Changing Careers and leaving your 9-5 behind…

Great changes take great courage and character. Do you really want to work at home and potentially change your career to make that happen?

Before you can answer that question; you first need to ask yourself is if you are truly willing to change from travelling the road you’ve been travelling so far? You need to anticipate where that road will lead you. My advice is… if the answer is anything but happiness; make the change!

I guarantee you won’t look back in the proverbial rear vision mirror.

I know that I haven’t.