QUESTION:
- Based on your own job hunting and work experiences, which do you prefer, working from home as a freelancer, or working outside the home where you get stable monthly pay? Why?
I have been working from home as an online ESL tutor for almost 10 years now and I must say it's the most ideal environment for me.
My past work experiences were both in the same field, but the first was a company-based online school. That time, I had to work the night shift from 10PM until 7AM the next day. This work schedule wasn't really a problem for me since I'm a night owl, and I can stay up all night fairly well. However, I dislike the commute time.
Back then, I had to commute for more than an hour to get to the office. I also had to switch vehicles at least four times, so it was quite dangerous at times. The unpredictable weather especially during rainy season was also really challenging. Sometimes, I had to take a taxi to get to the office and it wasn't cheap.
After leaving my first company, I decided to try teaching offline. There's this English Academy in our city which was only 20 minutes away from where I live. It was really fun because we get to see and interact with our students in person.
I taught there for a year and a couple of weeks. The reason why I left was that I wanted to get a Diploma in Education. If I continued working there, I wouldn't have enough time and money since the pay was quite low. I still enjoyed it because of the students and some really close colleagues.
I started my current job as a part-timer while I was still working in the English Academy. I worked there from 8AM-5PM mostly, unless they ask me to sub for a night class. Then, I work online from 9PM to 12MN.
I didn't have a lot of students back then since I was new, so that was pretty challenging. I had to really give a good impression, so the students would give me a higher rating thus increasing the possibility to have more students.
I got my teacher's license after getting my diploma, but I still chose to work from home. I really enjoy it here. I now have a lot of students that my classes are fully booked as soon as I open.
I like how flexible it is as I can decide on my own schedule. I mostly work 8-9 hours a day, but it's not that difficult since spread my schedule, so I could take some breaks in between.
I also have some students outside this platform (mostly my previous students from the English Academy and their acquaintances), so I could adjust the schedule to cater them as well. Though, most of them take classes on the weekend.
Now, I could work in my own pace and do a bunch of other things during my break. I sometimes do my hobbies like watch anime, read manga or draw something.
The time I'm using in making this blog is also thanks to my flexible schedule. I tend to have an hour and a half lunch break, so I could either write or prepare some topics for my blogs. :)
I can no longer see myself working outside. I've been very used to working from home. :) Despite not going outside, I could still socialize and talk with a lot of people from many countries and get to learn about their culture and whatnots, so that's another bonus!
Guess I'll end this post here. Thanks for checking and I'll see you next time! (^^,)/