Striking out on your own as a work from home professional or freelancer can be difficult and stressful, to say the least. Taking complete ownership of your own career and success is something that few will ever venture to do, and of those that try, most will fail. Why? There are plenty of reasons, but the inability to accurately market themselves is one of the most prevalent ones. So, how can you avoid the same fate? Have a website. Every work from home professional and freelancer should have one in order to reach their target market and highlight their skills and services.

Create or purchase?

If you aren’t tech savvy, don’t worry. Gone are the days when you had to be an IT genius or coding aficionado in order to have a nice website. With free sites like Blogger.com and WordPress.org. You can have a website or blog up in minutes. But, if you want all the bells and whistles and the ability to migrate your site in the future, you should look to self-host (which will cost you a low to moderate monthly or yearly fee) with companies like Hostgator, GoDaddy or BlueHost.

What will I put on my site?

Creating the content that you need on your website is a great way to explore your skill set and tap into your creativity. You can upload your pictures, artwork, writing, or anything else you like- whenever you like. However, if this seems like an overwhelming endeavor, there are plenty of places where you can find individuals who will do the work for you. Websites like Elance, Guru, Craigslist, and other open markets allow you to create job proposals or ads in order to find individuals who are interested in working for you on your site’s content.

How to get traffic?

Well, you’ve built the site and you’ve gotten your content, but where’s the traffic going to come from? Good question! There are plenty of great ways to get traffic to your website including: submitting your website to search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo, creating a Twitter account, making a Facebook Fan Page, creating a Squidoo page, article marketing, and good old-fashioned word-of-mouth.

While having a website isn’t the end-all, be-all  to work from home success, it is a great foundation and an essential flagship to your online success.

The online freelance experts at FreelanceSwitch.com have updated their annual “Monster List of Freelance Jobs”, and made your search for work a whole lot easier. The third annual “Monster List” is compiled of numerous online sites that offer freelance (work from home opportunities). The list is divided into five categories:

*Classified job sites

*Job bidding sites

*Job aggregators

*Sites with occassional freelance positions

*International, Non-English sites

Check it out here. And don’t forget to check the comments section, where you can find even more links to great places to find work.

Focus

You may not be in an office but you’ll still need to be able to produce solid results, and that requires focus. Eliminate all distractions including noise, electronics, pets, and even children (hire a sitter or locate a reputable day care center). Your first priority is your job and it should be given 100% of your focus.

Time Management

There is no shortage of distractions when you work from home and with no boss to oversee your production, it’ll be up to you make sure that you manage your time effectively and get the job done accurately and on time, every time.

Organization

No two people are the same and neither are their organizational skills, therefore it’s important to find a way to stay organized and up-to-date that will work best according to your needs and personality. Strong organizational skills can save you time and help you effectively streamline your job duties.

Excellent communication skills

Knowing how to communicate with clients, employers, and other professionals is a must. Whether you are communicating via email, phone, fax, or by letter you must be able to convey your message concisely, using proper grammar and language skills and most of all, professionally. Remember that how you communicate is a direct reflection of you.

Professionalism

It’s important to remember that you are working for someone at all times, even if you are working only for yourself. Being professional in every aspect of your job is not an option; it’s a requirement if you expect to be taken seriously and to be successful in your work at home job.

Here’s a list of just some of the resources that you should expect to have if you work from home:

Internet access

Having internet access is no longer optional if you work from home- it’s a must. The ability to access e-mail, documents, articles, news online, and company servers is a requirement for practically every business and it’s employees, especially those who work from home.

Microsoft Office

You’ll need a dependable and universal software program to create your documents, spreadsheets, slideshows, and more. Microsoft Office is the most widely used business software package and is a highly recommended investment. However, if cost is an issue, there are plenty of freeware business programs you can access online, just beware of potential viruses and incompatibility issues.

A dedicated phone and fax line

Next to having internet access, owning a phone and fax line dedicated solely to your home business is the next most important tool you can own. Features that you may be required to have includet: disabled three-way calling and unlimited long distance if you are working for a customerservice company, and electronic fax capability, which allows you to send and receive fax messages directly through your computer.

Social Networking Accounts

Social networking is a great way to promote your skills and services to employers and clients. Sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter allow you to display your work, thoughts, and attract new business. Many employers like to see their workers previously engaged in these sites before hiring them to guarantee that they are actively engaged and familiar with how to use them to effectively. Just make sure you keep it professional.

A professional email account

Having an email address is standard for almost everyone these days, but having a professional email address is a necessity for any work at home professional. You can’t expect to be taken very seriously with email addresses like hotnsexy@hotmail.com or wildingout@yahoo.com. If possible, it’s always best to own an email address hosted on your own domain.

Access to instant messaging and chat

The ability to remain in constant contact with your employers and clients is critical when working from home. Changes and problems can arise at any time, so having an instant message account is a great way to make yourself available throughout your work day (and night). Yahoo! Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, and Google Talk are all good platforms and they’re free!

A website or blog

In today’s world of ever-increasing technology and the need for instant access, having a website or blog is the new equivalent of a paper resume. Establishing yourself on the internet is a great way for potential clients and employers to find you and connect with you. And contrary to popular belief, creating a website doesn’t have to cost you a thing or require extensive knowledge of html or other coding languages. Free sites like Blogger.com and WordPress.com are great places to get started online for free and are loaded with tutorials and public forums where you can find valuable information to any questions you might have.

The internet is filled with websites that claim to offer high-paying work at home opportunities that require little to no skills or effort.Don’t believe the hype. Finding and obtaining any work from home job, that is worth having, is going to require the same efforts that a typical 9-to-5 job does- dedication, strong job skills, and a willingness to succeed.

If you need help in locating work from home jobs that are right for you, then try searching these sites.

Ratrace Rebellion.com-This website has been featured on BusinessWeek, CNN, USAToday, and even Fortune.

Pros: All jobs are pre-screened for legitimacy. Jobs are updated daily. They even offer free products and advice.

Cons: Slightly ad-heavy.

Craigslist.com- Many people swear by Craigslist, others lament the ease at which scam artists are able to prey on victims. While both points-of-view are valid, I personally believe that there does exist a happy medium, and with the new $25 fee to posts jobs, more legitimate opportunities are becoming available.

Pros: Plenty of job opportunities from around the US and the world at-large. You can also place an ad listing your services/skills for free. Jobs are posted 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Cons: High prevalence of scams.

FreelanceSwitch.com- If you are a freelancer or other professional who works from home, then FreelanceSwitch is a site you don’t want to miss out on. Not only can you find job opportunities in design, development, writing, illustration, flash, and more but they feature daily postings on news, advice, and other topics.

Pros: Organized. Features great articles. Lists plenty of resources that can help you in your work from home

Cons: Very popular, which means you’ll be competing with plenty of others for jobs. Costs $7 a month to apply for jobs.

Indeed.com- This site eliminates the need to search multiple job search engines like Monster and YahooJobs by aggregating content from multiple sites and allowing users to view and apply directly from their site.

Pros: Time saving. Able to enter specific search terms and criteria.

Cons: May find same jobs listed multiple times. Job information is not always up-to-date.

Elance.com- Touted as the leading site for online work, Elance has been featured on ABC News, The WallStreet Journal, and CNN Money. The site allows employers to post their jobs for free while requiring freelancers to submit proposals (bids) to fulfill the work.

Pros: Reputable. Wide variety of job categories.

Cons: Elance deducts between 6.75% and 8.75% from your payments to cover their fees. High competition. Subject to being under bid by workers outside the US.

These sites are but a tiny fraction of the websites that offer work from home opportunities. I will feature many career-specific job sites in the future, as I blog on various work from home opportunities. Can’t wait until my next post? Check out this list of 49 places to find telecommuting jobs.

Do you have any work from home websites that you frequent often or would like to recommend? Please feel free to share!

Happy Friday and Happy Job Hunting!

1. Your current employer- If you are already working for a company and have established a solid reputation and repore, then you may be able to permanently say good bye to your morning commute. Telecommuting is becoming an attractive option for both employers and employees alike because of its time and money saving advantages. Present your boss with a thorough telecommuting plan of your own that focuses on the benefits to the company, and working at home may be your new gig.

2.Search engines- Entering terms such as “work from home”, “telecommuting”, “freelance”, and “1099″ (refers to the tax form that independent contractors file to report yearly earnings) into almost any browser will yield you a wide assortment of work from home job opportunities from large corporations to small “mom and pop” businesses. Use your discretion and consumer agencies to verify the legitimacy of jobs listed on sites of this nature, the Better Business Bureau and public forums are two good places to start.

3. Craigslist- You can literally find almost anything on Craigslist and this includes work from home opportunities. Simply choose “Dallas” under the US cities category (or whatever city you’d like to select), choose the job category that interests you, and select “telecommute” in the gray search box. It’s important to note that some jobs are not advertised as being work from home or telecommuting positions but list under their descriptions that “telecommuting is OK”, so if you see a job you’re interested in make sure you pay close attention to the entire job description. You should also use discretion when applying for any jobs on Craigslist since practically anyone can post an ad there.

4. Work from home websites- Although there are many WAH websites that are scams or require payment to view jobs (which I highly discourage), there are also legitimate websites that offer job leads on a daily or weekly basis. No matter what kind of WAH opportunity you’re interested in there is almost certainly a website that you can use to find a position that is right for you and I’ll provide you with a list of them next time.

Who hasn’t dreamed of working from home? I mean who really wants to spend the best years of their life making other people rich, while barely making ends meet for yourself? When most of us think about working from home we automatically think of the benefits like saving gas, no boss, setting our own hours, no income cap, and being able to spend more time with family and friends. But, there’s another side of working from home that isn’t quite as rosy.

The truth is, working from home can be hard, really hard. Depending on what kind of work from home job you choose, YOU have to find work, consistently market in order to keep work coming in, pay your own taxes and purchase your own supplies, juggle your work hours with family time, and did I mention you have to get the job done all at the same time? To sum it up, your success in working from home depends solely on you. So, now the question is, can you cut the mustard? Do you have what it takes to work from home?

Only you can answer this question, but I must say that if you want to make it happen, you can. I’m a living witness. However, as the saying goes, you can’t get something for nothing. You will have to work hard, stay positive, and do your homework. You will have to know your strengths, your weaknesses, and develop a plan of action that will help you achieve your dreams. You will struggle, you will have doubts, you will be scared at times, and many people will question your sanity, but through it all you you can cut it, it’s all up to you.