How to be Successful with Work-at-Home Jobs

Marissa Mayer’s decision last March demanding all Yahoo! employees to work at the office caused quite a stir among people worldwide. Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, in particular, called Mayer’s decision a “perplexing” and “backwards step,” based on a Business Insider report. It’s no surprise for people that Branson, who leads a multimedia empire from home, feels that way. After all, he’s not the only media mogul who has made tons of money while working from home; other examples include Matt Inman of The Oatmeal, whose website makes half a million dollars in annual revenue; Amazon’s star engineer, James Hamilton, who works from a yacht and sometimes telecommutes from Hawaii; and Rafat Ali of PaidContent, who works at his dinner table at a New York home. Indeed, productivity and business success cannot be measured by the time people clock in at the office. And just as Branson has proven, you don’t need to work in the office to increase your net worth to a million bucks. But let’s be realistic here. Not all of us can make the same amount of money as these people in this lifetime. But it doesn’t mean we can’t be successful in our own way like them. That said, how can individuals working in the medical transcription, medical billing and medical coding fields obtain financial and career success worthy of attention too? How can allied healthcare professionals feel fulfilled while pursuing a portable career at home? Our experts here at Meditec have come up with the following tips: 1.    Earn your certifications. You won’t have any problems finding work online if you already have a certification. Companies rely on the candidate’s certifications to make sure that the latter can measure up to the job. Unless you have some level of experience for the job, you will find it hard to land it without a certification or background relating to your target career. 2.    Act like you own the business. Some contractors complain that they want clients to take them seriously, and yet they still act like an employee. As a contractor, you should be treated by clients as partners or equals. So, at all costs, prove that you deserve to be treated as an equal. Deliver your promises and be highly professional. 3.    Have a schedule. Following a schedule, even if you have the freedom to work anytime and at your own terms, can give you direction and help you stick with deadlines. Also, take scheduled and enjoyable breaks starting from five to twenty minutes every hour. Compensate how much you’ve worked on by increasing the length of your breaks. And do something on those breaks: take a walk, do some stretching. Taking breaks can help you become more productive. 4.    Have life/work balance. The trick in achieving this is to never to make room for procrastination. Procrastination will swallow you whole if you don’t keep it at bay. Keep focused and finish your job. Otherwise, work will pile up and rob you of a well-deserved “me” or family bonding time. 5.    Network and connect with colleagues. Just because you work at home doesn’t mean you have to put on the breaks on connecting with people too. Make sure to respond to emails and pings of coworkers as soon as possible, to prove that you’re really working. Also, use the internet to your advantage in building a success network. Use Skype and IM clients to hold meetings with colleagues, and social media like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook to connect with colleagues or future collaborators. The US Census Bureau reports that 13.4 million people work from at home once every week as compared to 9.2 million in 1997. The Globe and Mail meanwhile reports that Intuit forecasts a 40 percent increase among American freelancers by 2020. So get busy and obtain your training now! Check out our course library or download our free career guide to know more about your career-building options.