The secretary is MIA???? I have had to do my own typing since my third job out of college, way back in 1976. The only ones who had secretaries were the suits on executive row.

You can be a WAHW working for someone else as well. The number of people doing that is increasing. Technology allows more of it now, and cost cutting at some companies even demands it. Both lists, which are really more focused on freelancers (the ubiquitous "consultants"), get shorter when that's the situation.
When you work from home for someone else, you can scratch numbers 2, 3, and 5 from the good list, and probably scratch 3 through 5 from the bad list.

The BAD Number 2 man, totally agree. WAH can make you a shell from a social interaction POV. Worse it can make you very judgmental of people even those your were close too when you were driving in every day. I find that the disconnect makes me drive for solutions harder, but I admit I am far less considerate of other peoples "situation" when it comes to them performing their tasks. I guess that part's the blessing for that curse.

I've been working from home for 10 years now for a high-tech company. I enjoy it, and I am a lot more productive than I would be at an office. To mitigate the social isolation, I took up ballroom dancing, and am at the dance studio 3-5 times a day in the evenings... not only does it maintain social skills, it provides exercise, is a lot of fun, and I've become one of the best dancers in the state!

Too bad this is only from the perspective of being self-employed. There are many different pros and cons when you are work at home employee. I have enjoyed the freedom that comes with it over the last 12 years. Time management is critical as well since it's too easy to work extra long hours or, on the opposite side, be distracted by necessary home/family chores and interruptions. You have to find something to replace the social interaction that is lacking though. Texting and phone calls alone do not replace being with people.

We worked from home for 25 yrs . You really must be disciplined to do it ,however it beats working for someone else on so many levels . Even now in retirement I maintain a small online business from my home.

Only the disciplined and self motivated should really attempt this in my opinion, or else you are doomed to failure as so many who tried to emulate what we were doing failed.

If you fit the criteria there is no better way to go !

I work from home (virtual) but as an employee for a large company. So, I have the pluses with few of the negatives. My boss is virtual, as is her boss. We use a lot of tools (Communicator, etc) to stay in touch, and work with a lot of other people in the company, both virtual and office-bound.

Keys have been to set limits (at least 3 nights a week I don't work after dinner), have a completely separate area from the house (12X12 "shed" in the backyard), and try to avoid doing laundry/housework/major yard projects during work. And I have to remember to leave the heat on at night, otherwise I come into a work environment where the temperature is in the 40s-50s.

I'd say the isolation & loneliness are the hardest parts. There's no way to meet new people, get fresh ideas, hear jokes. No one to share triumphs with, or get encouragement when things go poorly. I miss the water cooler chats the most, even after 10 years. Phone & e-mail are OK, but face:face is best.

However, on the plus side, I love that I control my own time. One thing that bothered me when I had a job was the man bought my time. He could tell me when & where to be for how long. Even if there was nothing to do, I had to stay in the office. Funny, but now I work longer hours & it doesn't bother me as much.

Discipline has never been an issue. It's simple: no work, no eat. The other issue is much harder: work never stops, 24/7. No days off. All vacations are working vacations.

Bottom line: look at what people do, not what they say. If they still work at home, it can't be that bad.

Brick and Mortar 35 plus yrs. Engineering. With the economy and high tech I thought about WAHW but after reading your blogs... Not so sure. Old dog/New Tricks?? I'd miss the water cooler.

I've been working from home for two years now. I work for a company not as a freelancer or contractor. I have benefits, paid vacation/sick and everything offered to employees in the office. I still send my child to day care/preschool and he loves it. I just don't have the commute and I can work in my pajamas if I want.

The whole idea that social interaction in the workplace is in any way genuine is laughable. I loathed and dreaded even having to pass my colleagues in the hallways. The whole setup is just totally artificial -- you are all there to gain a paycheck. I found it difficult to hide my disdain and contempt. And then the fake happiness around the holidays and birthday parties is enough to send you over the edge. Thank god I WAH now.

The most important benefit, which the author forgot to mention, is FREEDOM OF LOCATION. WAH means you can leave the large, EXPENSIVE metro areas and live MUCH more cheaply in the vast countrysides of the world. Any place with decent internet service is fair game. I personally was able to move back to my ancestral homeland -- a hilly, depopulated, extremely pretty and cheap area with amazingly fast DSL service (I guess because no one else is using it). Everyone is hell-bent on moving to the big metro areas. WAH let's you have the places they left behind to yourself.

Health insurance is by far the only truly terrible thing about working from home. Individual/family health insurance has different rules from group insurance, and it's not pretty. It's terrible, unfair, and grossly expensive - that is, if you can get it in the first place. It's a living nightmare. I have my family on two separate policies with two separate high deductibles, and condition-specific deductibles on top of that. So, if my daughter were to go to the ER with an asthma attack, I'd first have to meet her $4,000 condition-specific deductible, then her $1,500 regular deductible, and then, my insurance would pay 80% after that - if they didn't find a way to squirm out of paying at all.

If your family is perfectly healthy in every way, the health insurance isn't bad at all. Considering my other daughter was denied coverage because she had a sore throat at the time I applied, you can see that not many people can get good usable insurance.

Even with the insurance nightmares from hell, I love being self employed. It's the best thing ever!

The author seems to be confusing "working from home" with "being self-employed." I have worked from home since 2002, but for a software company. I have to keep company hours, but I get health insurance, 401K, and the other benefits. The commute is great, and I can do chores or exercise during lunch. I can work in my PJs. But I do miss face-to-face interaction with my peers. I also feel like I have to do more work to make sure that I'm not the first to get laid off. Also, I was able to move out of the big city and into a more rural, picturesque environment.

The title of the article was somewhat misleading. Not everyone that works from home is self-employed. I am the executive for a not for profit trade association. We have no physical office. I interact with people on a regular basis going to meetings & such, but enjoy working from home. I worked in an office all my adult life until 5 years ago, so it's a joy to watch the changing seasons, the birds, etc. while I work. My dogs are at my feet & I can stop working & take a walk whenever I want to. If I want to take a long lunch with a friend & then do some work in the evening while my husband is doing something else, I can. The one downside I have is I find it hard to keep my office organized. No one sees it, so there isn't a lot of motivation to straighten it up & get the filing done. I feel very blessed to be able to enjoy my home while I work.

Having worked both for companies and for myself I agree that working for yourself takes a lot of self discipline and motivation. It takes being able to brainstorm on your own and to know when it's time to take a break. It is also the best feeling you can have when at the end of the day you have accomplished so much and you did it as a team of one. It's also knowing when to outsource job functions and finding the right person to work with.

I have been working remotely from home for a Fortune 100 technology company for the past 10 years - and would not have it any other way. Although this article is focused on entrepreneurs, the same attributes apply to remote workers. I feel like this is my own business to some degree. It does require discipline, and if you have very young children, you need to have your work area segregated from the rest of the household.

The positives far outweigt the negatives - however, it is very easy to get into the trap of overworking. I consistently think that if I can just get a jump on my day by starting an hour earlier, that I can end an hour earlier, or that by responding to email just before I go to bed, I won't have as many urgent issues to work through in the morning - but that is almost never the reality. My greatest problem is keeping a work/life balance.

OMG I have been working running a home based business for the last few months for the first time and I LOVE it. The article is right about having to wear many hats but that's what I hated about corporate America! I was paid well to do ONE thing and once thing only. I HATED it. Then I tried to open my own business and did okay but realized that the standard business model for the self employed required way too much capital, required you to build a business and work 24/7, manage employees, do payroll, pay taxes, keep up with the books, etc I had 10k and ran through that in 3 months! Barely breaking even! Until I found a brilliant work from home opportunity that required no sales skills, made common sense, was in every marketplace, and was easy. So although I do ware many hats in my home based business I love all the new skills that I am learning, love my new company, and lifes never been better! Thumps WAY up for those with the courage to stick it to the man and be their own boss. I did pay a bit for health insurance but some of my team members and I formed an LLC and now we have a great medical plan. Anyways feel free to contact me if you need some help with work at home businesses, or have any questions. www.facebook.com/tonyromo83 :)

I've been trying it for a year. I love it on those rainy or extremely cold days. It's a lot of work, but I don't mind that, and I would really like to stay away from the unemployment line.

As someone who will be celebrating 30 years of self-employment this year, allow me to say "here! here!" to 1, 2 & 5 on the "good" side. One quibble: the article neglects to menion a HUGE side benefit of #1: a NATURAL SLEEP CYCLE.

And to #2 I would add: "An alcoholic beverage at lunchtime? Approved!"