The View From My Office

Narrowing my Work at Home Options

The number of work at home opportunities is endless. Wading through the 'too good to be true' was a job in and of itself. There was not a lot of time to waste. Decisions needed to be made sooner than later.

Selling on Amazon and eBay were still major considerations but the reality of quick stable income made it necessary to select a work at home employer. Narrowing the choices to legitimate jobs was made easier by doing research on the various work from home forums found throughout the internet. Many of the forums advised against paying money to any prospective employers. While I agreed with this exceptions might need to be made for the right opportunity.

Telemarketing opportunities were abundant. This was not what I originally had in mind but quickly decided might be the best choice at least for the short term. I will be honest; the thought of sitting at home selling vacuum cleaner bags to strangers over the phone was a less than pleasant idea.

Through research, I was able to narrow my choices to three work at home call centers. Each had slightly different requirements and compensation structures but I would go with whichever accepted me first. I applied to all three and hoped for the best.

Rejection was fast. The first company rejected me within a few hours based solely on my application. No explanation, just a short “thanks, we are not interested” email. Talk about a blow to my already wounded ego. I never heard from the second company.

Company number three accepted my application 5 days after I applied. The next steps would be a voice test and background check.

I was on my way to my first work at home job.

Searching for a Work at Home Job

Looking for work is not as fun as it sounds. What do I do well? What do I want to do? How much do I need to make?

Answering these questions would hopefully point me in the right direction. I had already established the need for a flexible, work-at-home job. This was non-negotiable. If I was going to continue to sell real estate, my first responsibility would be to my clients, and job flexibility was not just a desire but also a necessity.

There were other things to consider. My health situation is stable but I have a chronic condition that requires some medical attention on a regular basis. My dogs are like children to me and anything I can do to be sure not to cause them stress is important. I avoid driving at night due to astigmatism. Some of this may seem silly but no matter how desperate I was for a job, staying mentally, emotionally, and physically healthy was important.

How and where to start my job search led me to Google “Work at Home Jobs”, “Work From Home Job”, “Working from Home” along with many variations of the same. The choices were overwhelming and occasionally bizarre. I never really appreciated how great my self-employment as a real estate agent was until I had to search for alternatives.

My first priority was to separate reality from fantasy. Fantasy was abundant and baffling. There we ‘jobs’ filling out sweepstakes entries, completing surveys, responding to blog posts, watching online videos. The average pay: ten cents. To reach my income goal I would be completing tens of thousands of these activities each month. Becoming financially stable completing surveys was out of the question.

Assembling products from home and stuffing envelopes were also quickly dismissed. Becoming wealthy operating a “Free Online Dollar Store” sounded too good to be true. Many of the websites I visited catered to “Stay at Home Mom’s”. Apparently, “Stay at Home Dad’s” are independently wealthy.

Blogging for money sounded promising. Most of those opportunities required doing the writing first and then waiting to see if the quality was good enough to be paid. If the quality was acceptable, the pay was a paltry two to four cents per word. Either way it was still not enough money to pay the bills.

I was becoming discouraged and concerned.

Assessing my Job Skills

Building websites for real estate agents and loan officers is something I have done since I first obtained my real estate license. For a brief moment, I considered trying to make a living doing this. There was a small problem with this plan. If I was having trouble making a living in real estate so were many others. It was doubtful I could find enough business to sustain me. After I sent out some feelers, my suspicions were confirmed. There were many agents willing and eager to have me assist them with a web solution but few who would be able to pay me.

In the past, I had made some extra money selling on Amazon and eBay . This was a definite possibility for the future but could I make an immediate living from it? Probably not. Stable, reliable income was a necessity at least for the short-term. I also had a small income from Google AdSense that had been dwindling as the traffic to my real estate web sites dwindled with the market. I considered establishing a blog/website on different subjects but again faced the real need for stable, reliable income. Auctioning some of the domain names I own was a consideration quickly shot down due to the lack of immediate interest in real estate specific domains.

Taking inventory of my current situation made me face the stark reality that things were getting worse by the day with no improvement in sight. No one was going to ride in on a horse and save me. I was going to have to save myself. With much self-loathing and trepidation, I set out to find the perfect work at home job.

Making the Decision

By May 2007, it was time to find a way to make some money. The media had been reporting for months about the real estate crash. Real estate agents and loan officers were finally starting to realize this 'market correction' was going to last for a long time.

Making the decision to 'find a job' was not one that came easy. I had (and still have) an obligation to my clients. Juggling a job and a full-time real estate career was difficult to come to terms with. In a way, I was also admitting defeat. I failed. Facing this failure was the toughest challenge. Real estate was my life and having to take even a part-time job was devastating.

There was a larger issue. Where would I work? What would I do? How would I find a job that would allow me to have extremely flexible hours but paid enough?

I do have to disclose I am married to a wonderful man who has a very good job. My desperation at this point was more out of a sense of obligation to contribute to the household. While we might be able to survive on just his income the reality of it was not something I was looking forward to. We would have to make adjustments to our lifestyle regardless. How significant those adjustments would be depended on my ability to find employment.

Finding a work-at-home job seemed like an ideal solution. Until I knew what I really wanted to do with the rest of my life, I hoped to find a flexible part-time job I could do from home. How to go about doing this was a challenge far greater then I had expected.

Facing Reality

Back in 2004 and 2005 there was no doubt in my mind the real estate market was going to take a turn for the worse. It had to. Nothing with that kind of momentum could sustain for an extended period. What was unknown at the time was how bad it would become.

By 2006 reality started to replace the booming real estate fantasyland that many had been living in for a number of years. The droves of out-of-state investors started to focus their interest on other states. Lending institutions enacted tighter standards. Those who had over-extended themselves in the purchase of their home were starting to feel the pain of adjusting mortgages. Homes that would have sold in 2 days in 2005 were now taking 2 months to sell. We now started saying the market was 'correcting' but was still good.

By 2007, the correction had become a downturn and this downturn was causing lenders and real estate companies to shutter their doors. With 90,000 licensed real estate agents in the State of Arizona and only 5000-6000 sales per month there was no question that many agents were going to have to find a different way to support themselves.

By April 2007, I knew I needed to do something. There was no way I could continue down this path. As much as I love real estate, I love my family more and there were obligations that had to be met. It was time to make some tough decisions.

The View From My Office

Growing up I really thought I wanted to be an attorney. It seemed like a profession that always did the right thing and stuck up for those who could not. After a few semesters of Political Science in college, I decided this would not be the right career path for me. Therefore, I chose to study Sports Medicine. I would be an athletic trainer. Well this was a great idea for college but not exactly practical in the real world where athletics was totally male dominated and locker rooms were not woman friendly places (this was the 80's).

Somehow, I found restaurant management. I really enjoyed this for a few years. Nothing beats having to fire an employee for stuffing a whole ham down his pants and running out the back door. Once I realized there was no way I was going to work nights, weekends, and holidays for the rest of my life, I ventured into retail sales training and management. Had a great time here too until that annoying weekends, nights and holidays thing kept popping up.

We will fast-forward a few years lest I bore you to death. I took a great job in the building industry where I designed a software system and flew around the country training people who absolutely loathed and devalued computers. Needless to say, after two plus years of trying in vain, the program was scrapped and I needed to make some decisions on what I wanted to be when I grew up.

My husband suggested I try real estate. I went to school and had my license two weeks later. Real estate is a great field for someone like me who is best when self-managed. Real estate was the right career choice and I finally discovered what I wanted to be when I grew up. I even went so far as to train in the specialized field of 1031 Exchanges. There was no stopping me. Or so I thought.

Well we all know what has happened to the real estate market. POP.

Back to square one as to figuring out what I wanted to be when I grew up. This much I did know. I wanted to be self-employed and wanted to retain enough flexibility to work real estate part-time at least until the market bounced back. What I did not know was what I would do or how I would do it.

This blog is about the choices I've made and the challenges I've faced.