Last year, I was laid off from my 9 to 5 job. Within a year, I was able to turn around and create an online, passive income business that has generated over six-figures, all from the comfort of my own home. Sounds great, doesn't it? Well, after being self employed for one year now, I can tell you that it's not all its cracked up to be.

There are, of course, good things that come along with working from your own home. For one, you don't have to wake up at a certain time each day, you don't have to drive in traffic to and from work, and you don't have to deal with someone else's agenda. Freedom does exist in the home office lifestyle, but there are some things that you will have to deal with that you may not be prepared for, which I have experienced for myself. I will talk about three specific areas:

1. Decision making,
2. Schedule; and
3. Benefits

Decision Making

When you work from home for yourself, you do have the power to make your own decisions, which is great. However, you will be required to make certain decisions that you may not feel prepared for, such as legal, tax and financial related decisions. At your 9 to 5 job, you don't really think about those types of things, but when you work from home, it's all you. You can easily hire someone to help you out, but since you're not the expert, it can be scary at times not knowing exactly what's going on.

The best thing you can do is educate yourself, and if you do hire someone, make sure its a referral from a trusted colleague or friend.

Schedule

Even though you're not on a mandatory schedule when you work from home, you should do yourself a favor and try to make one for yourself. The reason I say this is because it's really easy to get distracted while working in your own home. Your family, your television and even the internet are all right there at your disposal.

In addition, its a lot harder to leave work when work is done in your own home. I find myself at times wanting to accomplish things in the late evening hours for my at-home business, just because I can. Setting a schedule for yourself and sticking to it, and closing the doors to your home office at the end of the day is the best thing you can do.

Benefits

Of course, when you work for yourself, you are not working for a company that has benefits. It boggles my mind how people who work for other companies don't take advantage of health insurance, dental, vision and/or 401k benefits, because its really easy to enroll, and its something you don't even have to think about too much.

Working from home, you have to set up all of those types of benefits for yourself, and it can be a difficult, expensive, stressful task.

There are other benefits from working for another company, such as company picnics and holiday parties, and even the occasional encouragement from fellow co-workers, that are definitely not involved with the work-at-home force.

Conclusion

I'm not saying that you should not think about working for yourself. In retrospect, getting laid off was the best thing that's ever happened to me. I've been able to spend more time with my family, and have more freedom with my time. I am simply making you aware of some of the things you'll have to consider if you do end up leaving your job.