How To Telecommute Successfully

How To Telecommute Successfully
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Give Yourself a Quiz

Before you decide if telecommuting is for you, you should take a good look at your personality traits and characteristics. If you are going to do anything in life, you might as well be successful. The following are traits and characteristics of successful telecommuters.

Reliable- In order to successfully telecommute you have to be reliable and consistent. If you tend to flake when it comes to handling responsibilities then you will not be a successful telecommuter.

Independent- You must work well without supervision; if you need someone to tell you what to do, when to do it and how to best manage your time then you are not a good candidate.

Resourceful- You are able to take problems and quickly find solutions. For example, if your equipment is malfunctioning, you can’t just give up on work, you have to find an alternative to meeting your deadlines. Maybe that involves calling a repair person to get it fixed, or running out to the library or your local copy shop to borrow what you need; but you must be resourceful and get the job done.

Excellent Communication Skills- You have to be an excellent communicator. Many of your interactions will not be face to face so you have to know how to communicate effectively via the phone and email. This may seem simple, but things can be taken differently when you are not in a person’s presence; so your email etiquette must be excellent.

Self-Control – Successful telecommuters have self-control. With freedom comes temptation. There will be times where you are tempted to do something else besides work. People will call you and want to stop by, friends and family will ask you to babysit their kids, and other distractions will come up. You have to know how to say no.

Adaptability- You should be able to adapt quickly to change, and even anticipate it. Jobs come and go, and it’s really easy to fire someone who you don’t see on a regular basis. Successful telecommuters always have a back up plan. Should your job or contract position no longer exist, you must be able to adapt and bounce right back.

If these traits sound like a mirror image of you then with hard work and determination you should have a very successful career. On the other hand, if you read this and these characteristics couldn’t be further from your personality then perhaps you would best be served by looking into other options.