Book Review: “Undress for Success: The Naked Truth about Making Money at Home”
by Celine Roque
I’ve just received my copy of “Undress for Success: The Naked Truth about Making Money at Home” by Kate Lister and Tom Harnish. As someone who writes about e-working (or teleworking) often, I can understand why, in the first part of the book, the authors brought up the fact that most surveys and studies don’t usually agree about the number of Americans e-working today. Why? Because different researchers and companies define the word differently. An excerpt from the book:
Some researchers count small businesses, others don’t. Some surveys include people who work from home as little as one day a year, while others focus on people who primarily work from home. Some fail to distinguish between paid and unpaid work. None separate out those employees and business owners who work at home from those who work from home.
To address the many incarnations of e-working available, the book is separated into several sections that address the concerns and needs of the following kinds of e-workers:
- Corporate telecommuters,
- Online freelancers,
- and home-based business owners.
Each of those three sections contain informative starter guides for beginners. I’m glad that they separated the sections distinctly so that, for example, those who are interested in convincing their supervisor to allow them to telework don’t have to read the section on how you can apply for freelance work online. There’s also a section on how to set up the technology needed for working at home, which can come in handy if the reader is intimidated by the technical stuff.
Although the book quotes several statistics, it also contains anecdotes from actual e-workers. These stories makes the idea of e-working more real to the reader, rather than a theoretical situation. This is essential for people who want to become practicing e-workers. After all, these numbers and stories are what bring the “fantasy” of e-working into reality.
As an e-worker for my entire professional life, I often forget how overwhelming the idea of working from home can be to people who aren’t used to it. With all the information available on the web, it’s hard to separate practical advice from scammy, short sighted ideas. Fortunately, the authors do a good job of providing a clear, concise guide in the form of this book.
Thought...
