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Posted by Lammo in 
Many people get into affiliate marketing not just because they’ve heard about the money that’s to be made, but because they want to get away from office politics, the grumpy boss or the daily commute that can be such a pain. Or all of the above.
One of the ‘perks’ of affiliate marketing is that you can work from home, setting your own hours and sitting in your dressing gown whilst you work. Sounds great, right? Well, working from home isn’t always as peachy as it sounds. Sometimes, it just plain sucks.
First and foremost there’s the loneliness. While office work can be boring and commuting can be frustrating there’s always something to look forward to, whether it’s catching a bit of fresh air at lunch or chatting to your work mates about last night’s telly around the water cooler. Plenty of important relationships are formed at work, but working from home largely removes any chance of this happening. Of course there’s a big part of affiliate marketing that’s about forming relationships with merchants and with fellow affiliates, but there’s little chance of a face-to-face on a daily basis and reading emails or talking on the phone are not really substitutes for banter and the bustle of human proximity in an office. Interaction with other people doesn’t just have an impact on your levels of loneliness, it’s also linked to many other emotions. If you’ve gone from having a job with regular interaction to working from home there’s a high chance that your levels of motivation, productivity and general happiness could all potentially deteriorate. Being on your own in an empty house or flat doesn’t give you much incentive to get on with working and the internet itself is so full of juicy distractions that a seriously fragmented workflow can sometimes follow.
Part of this problem is a complete lack of feedback as to how you’re really doing. The size of commission payments is all very well and good as a measure of financial success but in the absence of direct feedback it can be hard to tell if you are doing as well as you could — or should. Whilst many people working from home will have family or friends around for certain portions of the day to stave off the basic loneliness, without colleagues around to give you obvious (and subliminal) hints as to your progress at work as well as your capacity as a sociable human being, some people can find themselves becoming lethargic and poorly motivated simply because they feel underappreciated and unrewarded. You may have felt under-valued in the “day job” but at least you had some feedback!
The realities of being your own boss are simple: as a boss, you tend not to treat yourself particularly kindly. Because much of the support you get from human contact at work happens at a subconscious level, when you start working from home there’s a chance that you’ll begin to feel frustrated and depressed but you simply won’t know why. Almost as mirror issue to this one, working from home might reduce your ability to cope with personal interaction as your daily conversations are limited to emails and the two dimensional medium that is the phone. Being able to interact face to face with other humans on a professional and personal level is something that needs constant practice and a home worker can all too easily lose their edge or – worse – start to actively avoid such encounters.
There are also health factors. Affiliate marketing and working from home both encourage a very sedentary lifestyle. You can spend hours writing content, seeking out keywords and scouring forums for inspiration whilst barely moving a muscle. As the old expression suggests, a healthy body is linked to a healthy mind, so your health is not something to be neglected. However, the temptation when working from home is to sit in your work area, drink sugary hot drinks and eat superficially gratifying by overly fattening foods. A lack of motivation and interaction can lead to depression and boredom which in turn lead to overeating, under exercising and an ever expanding waistline.
Finally there are the distractions. If you have a family there is a very strong chance that you’ll feel far more obliged to spend time with them that you would otherwise have spent working on your affiliate sites. This is part of the reason that so many affiliates work late into the night because their days are taken up with domestic comings and goings and other distractions: that leaking gutter can seem so appealing when faced with writing a particularly challenging piece of content . ..
Right – gutter fixed, back to work. The lack of structure to a working day and the often nocturnal working pattern can lead to irregular sleep patterns which, in turn, can exacerbate health issues and create a long term sense of weariness.
Ultimately there are plenty of drawbacks to what, on the surface of things, may seem to be an idyllic working environment. Understanding and accepting that they exist is, of course, the key to ensuring that you address them head on when embarking upon an affiliate career – or indeed any other primarily home-based role. Whilst we have to a large highlighted some of the worst-case scenarios in working from home, the truth is that your own ability to adapt to working from home is entirely subjective and different for each person. An environment which might be a struggle for some is one in which others will thrive. It’s also important to note that most people who talk about the pains of working from home are most likely still doing it many years after they gave up the office environment.
The good news is that for each and every hazard there are plenty of equally powerful positive aspects and approaches to working from home which we will examine in another post here at Lammo.net.
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I totally agree with everything you’ve said. But ever so often I get the feeling of “why am I doing this?” I lose touch from reality! Even tho I might of been partying the day before, theres no motivation.
I have been working at home for 18 months now. Think in that time I have done more work than the 19 years I did in an office.
Pre meetings, meetings, post meeting, minutes of the meetings, appraisals, one-to-ones, away days, answering other peoples phones, courses you don’t want to go on, people in the office that distract you…………. and so on!
totally digging this one
I enjoy working from home – as the exception in my week, not the norm. I love the office, wouldn’t change it.
If only I could get the snow to melt so I can go back to the office! It’s utterly boring here (and i’m still working at 10.30 pm)
I enjoyed this post John. Must say though, I love working from home. Maybe that’s because my son is at school now because before it was a nightmare!
I thought it was working at home that I hated however I recently took up a new career in farming and managing a campsite – which is essentially also working from home. I have now realised that its not the working at home bit that I hate, its the isolation of working on the computer.
Although I enjoy going on forums and chatting on msn with people, its nothing compared to actually getting out the house, chatting to random customers and helping neighbours with their farms and them helping me with mine.
After 8 odd years of working at home on the computer I am finally realising that why I get so depressed at times is literally down to the fact that many days I dont speak to anyone or even have time for anyone anymore.
My only problem now is that farming certainly doesn’t pay enough for me to give up affiliate marketing – oh what have I done!!
I actually disagree a little bit with this posting. If you do not set yourself up with a structured approach of working home, then yes, your article is correct.
However, it is easy to avoid most of what you wrote about with a proper setup. Use something like Outlook to set a schedule. Make it a rule when to take breaks if you have a problem with that. Schedule your physical exercise the same way. Explain to your family that you are working and not just surfing the web. If you treat it like a job or a business, then working from home is great. The lack of discipline and structure is the issue.
I have an office based “day job”, still my own boss, but working with others and do my affilaiate stuff at home in the evenings. It suits me fine.
I love spending my free time with my family but last week snow and school closures left me feeling like a caged tiger when I was trying to get some work done with the wife and kids buzzing around me at home! Made me realise if I ever give up the “day job” I’ll still need an office even if it’s a shed at the bottom of the garden.
@Barry – ah very true.. working from home is great unless of course you hate your job! The home environment won’t change that.. It sounds like you’re having a ball as a farmer (congrats on becoming a surrogate father to your first baby lamb recently btw)
If you can get the best of both worlds (AM paying the bills and farming giving you the enjoyment and satisfaction), then you’ll be onto a winner!
@Chris – Agree totally.. you simply HAVE to have some structure and discipline to your working day – this is your livelihood after all!
“Explain to your family that you are working and not just surfing the web” – Some members of my family understand this better than others.. thankfully I have Er Indoors home on Maternity leave at the moment to act as snooty receptionist when they ring up to chat to me.. “no you can’t speak to him.. he’s working” – works a treat!
@Nick – I’ve got a home office, and when things get hectic I can shut the distractions out.. maybe as Jack gets older I’ll need to upgrade to locks on the door and soundproofing only time will tell!
All rings true to me. If you’re a disciplined worker anyway, you’ll sort that out, but the not seeing anyone all day is a real bind sometimes.
Bit of a wind up as well when folks say ‘wow, lucky you’ when they find out you work at home.
I think there’s a relatively famous quote from someone:
The best thing about working for yourself is that there’s noone to tell you what to do… and that’s the worst thing as well.
I find that very true – you get fed up of taking more or less every decision on your own; sometimes even the minor ones end up occupying way too much time. Then it would actually be helpful for a boss to come in and say “why on earth are you thinking of doing that ? – just do this” or “yesterday you said you were finishing X today, so why are you now doing Y ?”
comes down to choices though doesn’t it? part of getting out of the rat race is to spend more time doing things you enjoy, so its not really a negative. this being said a agree with your point about health and a need for structure, but its not just an affiliate issue, it applies to any work from home business. but then you consider the kind of person who would get this far with affiliate marketing, chances are they are fairly passionate and motivated anyways, so whilst it might be difficult, i guess it goes with the territory. Personally I’d relish not having to hammer the phones all day long and i’d enjoy the isolation!
Don’t forget never being able to shut off – that laptop follows you around like a shadow. And sometimes I don’t see the outdoors until 8pm, if at all. Agree with Chris – use outlook to schedule in what you need to work on.
It all depends on what type of person you are. Although I’m glad to have had some years of office experience and meeting great people I much prefer working at home these days. It can get lonely but all I did was ask my local pub to install broadband and I used to work from there 2 or 3 days a week when I was in the UK. No drinking on the job mind you
Also there are hotdesk type places, I think Lemon Studios offers this, where you can meet like minded professionals. There are plenty of industry get togethers and conferences too. As for the other issues, these can easily be overcome too.
When I get down and complacent working from home I remember the office days and how dull they were.
I do miss the routine though abit. It’s hard to stay motivated when you are at home because you have already achieved your goal of not being at work!
It can be easy to work all Saturday if there’s less distractions! And working from home is flexible so when there’s nothing on TV you can spend an evening doing some links. I think ensuring you don’t work all day is hardest!
The greenhouse needing watering drags me away from my desk and on the sunny days it’s time to mow the lawn! But we need fresh air and exercise too so it’s not a major problem!