Negotiate Your Way into a Telecommuting Job
© copyright 1998-2001 Rosalind Mays
A friend of mine just showed me, by example, a new way to find, or rather create a telecommuting job. It all started when she asked me the question I’ve heard a million times. "How did you find your telecommuting job?" Well, by now everyone knows that it took 685 hours (that’s 4 months of 8 hour days) of research to find the job I have today.
"Okay, how does one usually find a telecommuting job?" she asked. Well, that answer’s really easy. "Get a conventional job, do well at it and show your boss that you need little supervision and then convince your boss to allow you to telecommute."
Then came the next question, which I thought was pretty darn insightful. "Knowing what you know today about telecommuting, what would you do to get a telecommuting job?"
I smiled. I hadn’t told anyone my ideas on the best ways to find telecommuting work, because frankly, no one asked. But Shana, my friend, seemed to be receptive to my crazy ideas so I told her, "I call this technique "The Promotional Trade. I would get a job the "conventional" way, work my butt off and when it was time for promotions or raises, I’d forfeit that reward for telecommuting options. I’d even take on additional duties for no raise in pay, if I could telecommute at least 3 days out of the week. If they offer full-time telecommuting with occasional visits to the office, I’d give them my second-born (my first-born is reserved for the man that gives me the winning lotto ticket)."
I giggled thinking she would join in. But instead, she wore a contemplative expression on her face. "Interesting, " Shana said, "I think that would work."
If I had listened to my friends and family without examining the opportunity myself, I would have changed my profession. I’d also have had commuted almost an hour and a half round-trip every day and be forced to wait two years (when one of my children begins kindergarten) to get a cut in child-care costs. Instead of chasing a "benefit", I should look for positions that fit my experience and skill. Within the many open positions I find, I should then look for a particular "benefit" that suits me . . . like child-care reimbursement . . . or telecommuting.
"What?"
"I’ll tell you as soon as I see the result. Don’t worry, I’ll let you know," then she left.
I hate secrets!
Well, one week later my Shana squealed in my ear over the phone. "It worked! It actually worked!"
"What worked?"
She explained that she had just gone on a job interview for a "conventional" job that could have easily been a telecommuting job. She took my "Promotional Trade" theory and applied it to negotiating for a new job.
First she had carefully followed my advice from a previous article called "Want to Telecommute? Do the Math!" and had calculated the exact salary needed to maintain her standard of living while working form home.
Then she created a simple yet thorough proposal on how her new boss could create a telecommuting arrangement around the vacant position.
After the interview the company offered the job to her and asked her what salary she required. Shana gave them two salary requirements. The first salary requirement was for a "commuter" job. The second salary requirement (which happened to be 15% lower than the "commuter" salary) was for a telecommuting job.
"I could have gone lower. Working at home cut my expenses by more than 40% but anything over 20% seemed as if I was desperate. I make it a point to never let a potential employer know I’m desperate for a job!" she told me.
Guess which option the employer picked?
So there you have it, two new ways to find a telecommuting job. Why not try it yourself? Ask your employer if you could trade your next promotion, salary increase or certain benefits you don’t need or want into a telecommuting option? Or better yet, look for new jobs that are easily telecommutable and offer a lower salary or forfeit benefits packages in lieu of the option to telecommute. It can’t hurt to ask. You may be pleasantly surprised.
Happy Hunting!
© copyright 1998-2001 Rosalind Mays
About the Author
Rosalind Mays, best-selling author of , and co-author of Get Your Money Back! Stop Scammers and Save Your Dollars, works at home as an Internet Researcher. She hopes her advice and report (which compiles all the information she found while searching for her current job) will shorten other job seeker's time in finding legitimate work at home opportunities. Visit for a free list of telecommuting jobs compiled monthly. Go to: to learn more about her books. She may be reached via e-mail RozMW@aol.com.
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Feature Article
YOUR SMALL BUSINESS.
DO WHAT YOU LOVE... AND PROSPER
by Rob Spina
You want to start your own small business from home. You’ve been thinking about it for awhile and feel the time is right. You feel it’s now or never. You’re thinking about what the extra income could do for you and your family. What it could do for your lifestyle and self-esteem. Your longtime desire is now turning to passion. You think (or know) you have what it takes. You’re now ready to go. But what business is deserving of your passion?
This is the juncture where many falter. Indecision or decisions for the wrong reasons kill many a promising venture into self-employment. For this life undertaking, please allow me to suggest what I’ve found to be a sold gold piece of advice -- DO WHAT YOU LOVE! It should be a mandatory business start-up rule to follow. However, though it should go without saying, that statement (and business philosophy) is bypassed more than it’s not.
Surprisingly, many eager first-time entrepreneurs start a business solely because they’ve heard it could make a lot of money. That’s a flawed thinking process, and it certainly lessens your odds for success. That’s because, instead of drawing on your life’s skills, talents, and wealth of knowledge on a particular passion, you’re learning someone else’s passion, from scratch.
Think about it. If you’re working at a business that’s less than ideal for you -- a business that just doesn’t "ignite any sparks" -- then how long before you’re disgruntled and drained by the end of the day? How long before you’re reduced to just waiting for the weekend, like everyone else? I’ve seen that too many times and it doesn’t have to be that way for you. You and your interests are best served if you concentrate on building and marketing your business through what comes naturally. That’s a huge step in the right direction.
You’re going to make some mistakes along the way but don’t make a potentially devastating one before you even begin. I can’t emphasize it enough. Follow what’s always driven your passion and go for it. Nothing, no matter what the reason, should get in the way of that. If not, little by little, it will deplete your resources and take its toll on both your professional and personal life.
Artist Pablo Picasso once said, "If there’s no clear line of demarkation between work and play, then success is guaranteed." Work at what you would do for free... and it’ll not only determine your success... but make your chances for it much greater as well. No single issue is more important.
Success isn’t the key to happiness... happiness is the key to success. So, do what you love... and prosper!
That simple philosophy, more than anything else, is my advice to entrepreneurs like you, looking to start a small business from home.
Good luck!
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Rob Spina is a Marketing Consultant and author of "How To Start And Operate An Errand Service." His book is available at:
http://www.legacymarketing.net/guides/errands.htm or by calling, 1-888-725-2639. This guidebook has been profiled in business magazines (Small Business Opportunities, Business Start-Ups) and suggested by The International Concierge and Errand Association, and other How-To book authors.
Rob also offers other small business at-home guidebooks at: www.legacymarketing.net.
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A Great Homebased Business Idea
Be a Nutritional Consultant
FREEDOM! Opportunity! More Time! More Money! More Choices! Want it all?
Call us: E & M Nutrition 1-800-236-0406 (or) visit our website: www.mannapages.com/EMNutrition (or) E-Mail: EMNutrition@mannapages.com
For 100's more great ideas, visit the Ideas pages. We've added lots of new ideas!
For more Business Opportunity ideas, visit the Business Opps section.
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Remind Me Again Why I Do This...
Now, mind you my daughter is not the quietly persistent tug-on-your-sleeve kind of attention-getter. No. She’s more of a the-louder-I-am-the-faster-she’ll-hear-me kind of a gal.
And throw in the challenge of trying to be a professional while your children are arguing over who’s turn it is to use the self-inflating whoopee cushion right outside your office door and well, it’s a miracle we don’t all just give up and lease office space.
Negotiate Your Way into a Telecommuting Job