Earthtiger Systems

Working from home without being a business owner

Working from home does not have to involve being in business for yourself, though I think it is the best of all worlds. For some folks, though, some amount of handholding is necessary. This is not a criticism. For all of us who want to be our own boss, we will at some point need folks who want to be employees.

Being an independent contractor is a hybrid position in that you are responsible for your own taxes and more or less how you manage your time. You are in business for yourself, but you are contracted to a single entity or to a small group of related entities. This involves you providing your own transportation, insurance, and work space in

your home. I have had more than one engagement where I worked from home, reported in to my handler once a week, every two weeks, or even every day. Without exception, it is a most excellent arrangement.

For instance, some years ago, Intel had an ‘Intel Inside’ campaign going on. Our job was to visit the various retailers in the area who carried Intel based products. We detailed the displays, gave away tee shirts to employees and customers and built the brand using the tools provided. We were paid per store. Randomly we had folks come behind us and check our work.

In another, we did Value Added Reseller training on OS/2 Warp 3.0 and again, we were paid per store and expected to do so many stores a week. The beauty was if you worked your tail off, you could be through with the required workload and have done a good job by Wednesday evening or Thursday morning. Myself and my team always went ahead and did our reports for the week, then replicated our records up to the home office on Fridays. We used Lotus Notes and Domino server in this particular application.

As I say, it was a no pressure job for someone who likes to work and likes his or her work.

Taxes

Used to, some of the contracts would involve them taking out just social security, making us something called a contract employee which was neither an employee nor an independent contractor. You were responsible for your own income taxes, though. I am almost positive the current laws are different from that. Make sure to pay special attention to the taxes and who and how they are paid in your situation. Great money is always great; getting behind on your taxes is not so great. Just as you learned to balance your checkbook, you can learn to file your quarterly taxes on time with no sweat.

Caveats and Addendums

One drawback with these types of jobs is they are sadly all too often short term. The Intel Inside campaign was a limited six month contract. Happily, I recall it got extended. On another, IBM saw the writing on the wall with OS/2 losing out to Windows 95 in the marketplace. It was clear that no matter how well we did our job, IBM was going to pull the plug on the program. IBM does not run their business the same way as Microsoft. As I understand it, IBM runs their business from the standpoint that if it does not earn a certain rate of return on a product line, they pull the plug. I am not positive of that, but that is the way I interpreted the messages and communications there at the end when they offered to transfer me to Dallas. I was also shocked to learn that at that point in 95, IBM’s software sales dwarfed Microsoft’s. IBM is a different business entirely from Microsoft, or at least it was. OS/2 was their attempt to stay in the personal computer market and as you can tell, over time their interest has fallen way off.

Another thing to be acutely aware of is the number of work at home scams that are out there. They can range from telling you how to rip off legitimate programs by employing questionable marketing practices to outright money laundering schemes. Short comment? If it is too good to be true it probably is. If it clearly presents opportunities for abuse, then the abuse is probably being committed. If something looks good, simply search it online with the word ‘scam’ attached and you will get answers. What we are discussing here is your working for a company that requires your services for things you can do at home on your computer on your schedule, NOT how to rip off the search engines with false hits on pay per click programs.

Positive Facts

Companies like folks who are dependable enough that they can work without supervision. These types of employees and contracted resources are good for the bottom line. The employer or entity contracting with you saves money on benefits and you enjoy a higher than average income with minimum hassle from traffic and constant looking over your shoulder. You also have many tax benefits that others who work as a traditional employee do not have. Love taxes or hate them, it is employees who pay the most taxes and it is employees

who must pay the most taxes because the employee pool is the only one big enough to supply the Federal government with all the funds it thinks is its just due. Well, I did say this was a section on positive facts, did I not? Moving on.

Working from home, providing services to companies from home is a win win for everyone involved. If you are a parent, I can see no better way to work than to do it from home. You gain valuable, quantifiable tax benefits, you are able to be there for you kids if that is a core value with you as it is with me, and your stress levels are simply lower. The ability to avoid rush hours alone no doubt would make you a healthier, happier individual.

There are jobs out there for the right person. Many Fortune 500 companies use telecommuters for all types of services. Here is a resource that can help you get started in finding that stay at home job you have dreamed about. SCI can help you get started searching for THE company you can work for from home.

-Tim

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