I am a fan of Remote work. At first, it was my dream, but later on with perseverance, a lot of trial and failure, it became my current reality.

And now I am at the point I want to help others to experience the great benefits online work offers. I want to give them the hints they need to make these trips shorter.

When you have someone who already walked the long path, and can tell you exactly how to step and where the obstacles are, it is much easier to reach the end destination.

Through the years, many people asked me how can they join me and work remotely. What do they need to do?

And I asked all of my friends to start working from home. Their answers surprised me. All of them sounded like this:

I don't want to work from home!

Let's laugh a bit with this post!

Friend No. 1
The Procrastinator

This is the type of person that will postpone their dreams whenever he gets the chance. There could be several reasons, with the most common ones: fear of failure, and not seeing the point in chasing a dream that might never come true.

How to Solve: Experiment

Think of Remote Jobs as a game. If you find a Job, you win. If you don't - game over. You will always have the "Repeat Level" button. The fun element of experimenting and trying to win the game will make you forget your concerns about remote work.

You will discover amazing offers worth trying and applying to. Most fears people have about remote jobs are related to the unknown. You fear online jobs as they are unfamiliar to you.

Get to know them! Learn, read, watch videos, register to different websites, try, experiment, you keep doing things. That's how you beat procrastination.

Friend No. 2
The Topic-changer

I had a friend I wanted to introduce to working remotely. I thought it would be interesting to her because the salary is great, and she likes high-paying jobs.

However, the moment I started speaking about working from home and explaining to her specific steps to take, she would change the topic.

Later on, I asked her if she would be interested in working online, and her explanation left me surprised. She said that for her, the Internet is only for listening to music and chatting with her close friends. She said:

I don't like working remotely!

We all have our preferences for jobs and interests in life. Working from home can apply to most people, but not all of us are ready to make the switch yet.

Friend No. 3
The Not-good-enough

I asked a very good friend of mine to start working from home like me. Her answer:

How to work remotely? But I am not as smart as you!

Although I feel flattered people find me smart, I cannot agree with that. Working from home doesn't require you to be a genius. Goal-oriented personality and positivity are enough to land a job.

What to Work on: Confidence.

Confidence is a key trait you need to develop for being successful in freelancing. Without it, finding a job can take longer and the payment you receive will be lower.

Luckily, people are not born with confidence. It means that anyone, including you, can learn this skill and apply it to earn big from home.

Friend No. 4
The Lazy one

I want to work from home but I will do it later.

And later never comes. Been there?

What to Work on: Plan.

Make a schedule and set a goal with a fixed term. Make it reasonable. For example, apply to 5 opportunities in a week. Then strictly follow this directive.

Is five an achievable number? If you don't work this means you must send one resume and a cover letter per day Monday to Friday. We could add the time needed to prepare the documents (around 2 hours).

If it takes you a few hours to modify your files to fit the company you apply to, including research, editing, and registration, that equals 10 hours per week.

In time you will become faster as applying is very similar for different companies. You will reduce the 10 hours to 5, and then to 3.

At some point, you will land a job, and all the time you spent researching and applying will pay off. Sounds like a good deal?

Friend No. 5
The This-is-too-hard

This is the type of person who is looking for guidance, and office jobs are the best fit for him. If you feel something is too hard, it can become achievable only with a mindset shift. Being a "freelancer" should be taken literally, you are free to work as much as you like and do it by your rules.

It is hard when you start, it becomes simpler as you go. The question is how long will you stay to see it get easy?

What to Work on: Motivation.

Know your reasons to start working from home. Is it because you enjoy the higher earning potential? Do you believe you will have more freedom when you earn online? Focusing on the final outcome will push you to keep trying and give you the proper mindset for remote work.

Friend No. 6
The You-do-it-for-me

A common misconception about working from home is that somebody needs to introduce you to things and show you around. It's great to have a friend who can support you and guide you in the right direction, but nobody can do your job for you.

What to Work on: Independence.

Develop qualities like self-initiativeness, independency, and curiosity. Yes, I recommend asking for help from people who are in the freelance business but challenge yourself to achieve simple goals on your own.

Make sure your questions are about something you can't find yourself on Google. Before you ask, check if anybody provided an answer online as that will give you the confidence boost you need. Soon you will discover that you are competent enough to solve issues in your online job.

Friend No. 7
The Online-jobs-are-scams

From all friends, this is the most reasonable excuse. Scam jobs exist and you gotta be careful when deciding if a job is legit. However, there are proven tactics to help you understand if the job is fake.

How to Overcome: Research

A major skill to help you grow online is active research and curiosity. You found a job you like - check it using various channels.

You can Google it, read reviews, and ask in forums if anyone worked there. You can even make some friends and get deeper into freelancing.

Friend No. 8
The I-don't-have-time-for-this

It's great that you value your time. Are you certain that you are not wasting it in the office, though?

People can have many reasons to avoid and dislike wasting time on something. In many cases, it is due to knowing only surface-level information.

Once you get deep into a topic, it is less likely to find it boring. Examine the exact reasons you have to put less priority on remote work. If you are not interested altogether, and you prefer the office - that's great.

But if another solvable reason is stopping you from pursuing your dreams, then you must work on resolving it.

Friend No. 9
The Impatient one

You decide you want to start working online. After applying for several jobs, and not getting a response back, you decide online work is not something serious or worth waiting for.

Quality Required: Patience

Making money online from zero requires time. It's like every new skill you learn. Imagine learning a new language. When you were born, you didn't know how to speak. Then you started saying a few words, then phrases, after sentences.

To earn online you need to keep staying in this environment, keep communicating with other freelancers, and keep learning the alphabet. You will notice that every day you become better as you learned new stuff you didn't know before.

Conclusion

Although people can have valid reasons to avoid remote work, it appears that most of their reasons are based on the fear of the unknown. In circumstances where they get guided, these same individuals will enjoy the benefits working from home provides.

We have different tastes, but some of the perks freelancing provides are unique, and you can't get them in an office job. If you are avoiding remote jobs in general, check your reasons and see if it is because you dislike them in general, or you are just afraid.

Once you start seeing the bright side of online work, you would never want to go back again. Come and join me on the awesome and rewarding trip of working from home!