by Dawney Spencer
August 1, 1999

Is indexing right for you?

Everyone wants to know this before they plunk down a dime!

So how do you determine your chances of indexing success? How do you know if indexing is really right for you and your situation? In order to determine this, let’s examine reasons why folks get into indexing, and the realities.

The desire to work at home seems to be the main attraction. Why? To be with children; to be the boss; to have flexible work hours; to work around disabilities; and others. What is your reason?

We’re talking about reasons for wanting to work at home as an indexer because work at home jobs are often romanticized as being the panacea for what ails our lifestyle. Indexing specifically gets promoted as quick, easy money.

This article is geared toward people who are just starting to look at indexing as a viable career, and who have heard wonderful things about it.

Prepare to have your bubble burst....

When I first envisioned working at home as an indexer, I thought, “I’ll get a laptop and take it to the beach. After all, I can mark text and create the index just as easily at the beach as I can at home. Nothing like making big bucks at the beach soaking up the sun, right?”

Big surprise!

First, when I went to the beach to work, I was too distracted by the seagulls, pelicans, waves, and surroundings. Second, when I finally got “into it”, I was so enveloped by my work that I never noticed that I was actually at the beach. I wasn’t enjoying the scenery because I was so focused on the job at hand. Third, sand and laptops don’t mix well. Fourth, big bucks take a very long time so you can’t afford to GO to the beach OR buy a laptop unless you have another source of immediate income.

So much for the romantic vision. It turned out to be a myth!

Let’s analyze some issues of working at home as an indexer, and determine if “work-at-home-as-an-indexer” myths merit debunking.

MYTH ONE: YOU CAN SPEND TIME WITH THE CHILDREN!

While taking responsibility for your children is admirable and certainly a worthy decision, the fact remains this may be more difficult than you could ever imagine. There are many Web sites that will help you juggle work and personal responsibilities. And certainly there ARE work at home indexers that ARE parents.

But here is a question to consider: If you are focusing on your work at hand, are you really focusing on your children? If you are spending time with your children, are you really focused on your client’s project?

It’s as if you want to be in two places at once. Working and with your children. This isn’t physically possible, and one or both will suffer. Either the quality of work decreases, or the quantity of time spent with the children decreases, or both.

Indexing is an intense intellectual process that does not blend well with children underfoot interrupting your train of thought.

I recently read an earnest plea from a mother who wanted to work at home, felt she could learn to do a job if someone gave her the right opportunity. Her plea was literally for her children’s future and how she wants to bring them up to be responsible adults. That working at home was the only way she could do this, so would someone please hire and train her?

Indexing probably isn’t a good choice for this type of person. The demands and deadlines of indexing would be just as bad as the demands of a boss in a job outside the home. For this type of person, taking care of children takes priority over running a business or being on the job. This becomes evident when a child gets sick, and the indexer misses a deadline because of it.

This is a fast way to lose clients.

In order to get a deadline met, what could happen is that the parent needs to push the child aside to get the work done. This leaves the child alone. Therefore, it is a mistake to think indexing allows you to “spend time with the children.” You are working on a project and NOT spending time with them. Worse, if you get frustrated with the child because the child does not understand to leave you alone so you can get the work done and deadline met, you might actually damage your relationship with your child.

If you are not giving your child your attention because you are focused on an indexing project, how is working at home any better than working out? The only benefit might be if your child has severe health problems that daycare is unable to care for.

As you can see, wanting to be work at home as an indexer so you can be “with the children” is a myth that needs to be exposed. Most indexers with children need to have a another friend that they can trade off baby-sitting days with, or they hire out flexible daycare when deadlines arise.

The myth of working at home so you can be with the children is quickly overturned in the indexing field. If children--not clients--are your higher priority, I would strongly urge you to research other work at home opportunities instead. There are other types of work that blend better with children.

MYTH TWO: YOU’RE THE BOSS!

Hmm....

This needs to be carefully scrutinized.

Does your boss expect you to work overtime at the last minute--without complaining? Do you feel your boss is not interested in your problems? Does your boss nit-pick your work? Does your boss not “cut you any slack”? Does your boss require that you cancel your vacation plans to take care of something that “just came up”?

While the thought of being our own boss feels good (it’s an ego thing), the realities are: Your clients won’t care if you have to put in overtime to complete their project on time. Clients have their own problems and it takes time to establish enough of a rapport before they care about your problems, if ever. Clients have every right to be nit-picky, and many exercise that right. Many clients won’t cut you any slack because they don’t have to. They will just use another indexing service. Finally, some indexers have to rearrange their vacation plans to accommodate a good client.

And there is the nagging question: Can you be just as tough on yourself as any boss you’ve had?

I am the toughest boss I ever had. I expect myself to be productive more than 40 hours a week. I expect me to learn from my mistakes; to not complain; to be grateful when someone points out mistakes so I can be better; to finish what is started; to live up professional standards as outlined by my company; to be organized; to further my professional education; to keep abreast of what’s happening in my company’s field by reading material each day; to fuel my own motivation internally instead of relying on “pats on the back” from external sources; to maintain a positive attitude; to participate in performance ratings with myself, answering honestly, and setting new goals for myself; to work and stick to a schedule, even if I’m not “in the mood”; and more.

Being self-employed in a work at home environment is tough. As your own boss, you need be tough on yourself. If you cannot be tough on yourself, it will take you forever to get your first client. While this is fine if you aren’t pressured for money, most people get into indexing because they want an income. Income means being a tough boss on yourself.

If you can’t “breathe down your own back”, being in business for yourself might not work out-- ANY self-business--not just indexing.

MYTH THREE: YOU WILL HAVE FLEXIBLE WORK HOURS

This myth may, or may not have, some merit. It depends on what type of flexibility you seek.

For instance, some indexers want to only work part-time. This is possible and some indexers are part-time, but many don’t admit their part-time status to clients since it may convey undependability. When a client calls, they usually say something to the effect that they are booked, etc. But, there is a fine line between always being booked and that client being willing to call you back again and again.

Also, if you prefer to work unconventional hours (as in being a Night Owl), this, too may be possible. However, clients who work in publishing houses have traditional hours. If you sleep during those hours, are you capable of “clearing the fog” enough for you to discuss a project with a client if they call you? Are you in a position to market during those traditional hours? If you can only market at midnight, and leave voice mail, it’s going to be a long, dark road to finding work as an indexer. As with anything, it can be done, but you are probably better suited for a different work at home opportunity if it’s income you seek.

MYTH FOUR: YOUR DISABILITIES BECOME INVISIBLE!

This myth is one of the myths that is truly NOT A MYTH!

Working at home affords many the chance to work in spite of a disability. Indexing can be an excellent choice since your disability may not be affected if you work at home.

As an example, some people are deathly allergic to fragrances and chemicals used in the workplace. Others are in wheelchairs. These individuals may be able to keyboard effectively at home and use the telephone, computer, and fax machine to generate clientele.

As long as the disability is not used as a reason for missed deadlines, then working at home as an indexer might be a good career choice.

However, if the disability involves impaired hearing or eyesight, then indexing may not be a good choice.

While the hearing-impaired have TDD’s, publishing houses may not. This makes it difficult to develop a client list if you have to rely on the telephone for marketing. This might be overcome by some IF they live near several large publishing houses and can go in person to find freelance indexing work.

For the vision-impaired, reading in print and on the computer screen for extended periods of time is exhausting and painful. Since you first have to read the page proofs of the book, then work with the computer to create an index (we’re not in the dark ages of creating an index on cards, are we?), this process would need to be carefully considered before entering the work at home indexing field.

If, after all this, you decide that work at home indexing is still for you, is the field tight? Is there a need for indexers?

Article written by Dawn Spencer

Source: www.suite101.com