Top 10 Traits of People Who Thrive in Work At Home Careers

I have never gone into an office full-time during my career. 

I recently started consulting with a company in their offices two days a week. One thing I've learned since I started working in an office setting on a part-time basis, is how much most people do not remotely desire to work from home. Wow, am I different from those who prefer to commute into an office. 

This got me thinking: why do I love working from home so much? In my experience, it's a mix of reasons: I love doing my own thing. I love working in spurts and then taking short breaks and totally switching gears. I love having the flexibility to totally rearrange my schedule if something special comes up (flipflopping night and day, starting my work 2 hours later, etc). I love the two+ hours it gives me back in my day that would have been eaten up by getting ready to go to work and driving in. 

Maybe you feel drawn to the work at home lifestyle too. I'm thrilled to share that I'm one of 45+ speakers who have joined together for the Work-At-Home Summit. This free event starts Monday January 29 and for six straight days super smart, successful people will be demystifying their work at home journeys.

This free summit covers it all: goal setting, business plans, tons of work at home careers, advertising on Facebook--the whole nine yards.

Check out the complete schedule and pencil in the sessions that you don't want to miss. Seriously, I've never seen such a high quality virtual conference offered for free. My session on content marketing and personal brand will be on January 31 at 11 am. There will also be a recording available later. 

Maybe you're interested in working from home but you're not totally sure if it's a good fit for you. I put together a top 10 list of characteristics for work at home types. Do any of these resonate with you? 

10 Traits of People Who Would Thriving Working at Home 

1. You value autonomy. You are energized by making your own schedule. The idea of being your own boss feels right to you. When people say "I want to work in-house because I want to be a part of a team" it's kind of difficult for you to understand. 

2. You like non-traditional hours. You don't hold a grudge if you need to work early in the morning or late at night. You actually prefer not to track hours but rather to just work until the work gets done.

3. You're highly organized. You are highly skilled at keeping track of deadlines and workflow. Project management may not be your favorite thing, but you can do it. You're great at keeping up with details whether or not you feel like that's your highest and best use. 

4. You're cool with alone time. If you're a head down "work hard/play hard" kind of person, working at home may make sense for you. 

5. You don't need outer accountability. You can stay on task and check off your to do list even without a boss checking in on you. You are intrinsically motivated. 

6. Freelancing appeals to you. You like the idea of multiple projects for multiple clients. You're not intimidated by invoicing or negotiating contracts. You actually feel like freelancing is beating the system a little bit.  

7. You're fine with sacrificing earning potential or benefits. It's worth it to you to sacrifice promotions or typical benefits like a company matching 401K in order to have the benefits of working at home. 

8. You're very good at connecting with people. If you're a part of a remote team, you know how to connect with people and build rapport. You have to have this special skill because it is more difficult to do without the connection of regular face time. 

9. You have an entrepreneurial spirit. If you've been told you have this--or you just know you do--a work at home gig might make it more possible for you to lean into your entrepreneurial side. 

10. You pursue diverging goals. Working at home may be a good option for you if you want to pursue multiple career paths at once. Want to be a blogger and a caterer? A jewelry designer and a graphic designer? Working at home gives you the opportunity to split up your day however you like. 

Working at home is not for everybody. But for those of us who are drawn to it, man, it really increases our quality of life when we can find an opportunity that is in our sweet spot and also gives us the ability to work from anywhere. Whether you already work at home or are interested in learning about how you can get your work at home gig off the ground, don't miss the free virtual Work-At-Home Summit January 29-February 3. Grab your free ticket here.