MEGYN KELLY NOSE JOB

HOW DOES THIS AFFECT THE FAMILY? As you might guess, these trends have significant potential consequences for the family, and not only in the realm of homeschooling and other preferences. First, if at least one parent has a skill that is "virtually marketable," then.

* that parent may now stay home with the children; * the family may now be free to move to a more family-friendly location;

1. * the stresses of the two-commuter life -- and their toll on the couple and the family -- will be significantly reduced; and. * the children will be able to learn valuable work-related lessons firsthand, from the best teacher of all -- a parent.
2. WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD?
3. Although no one can predict the future -- and working from home, be it as a freelancer or an employee, is certainly not for everyone -- these trends do indicate that the old-style concept of "telecommuting" (an employee working at home a few days per month) is steadily being overtaken by a radically different model: full-time, home-based virtual careers, founded on a steadily-growing supply of legitimate virtual-work opportunities. Moreover, additional progress in communication technologies will soon enable real-time, high-definition interviews between virtual workers and their hirers (even cell phones can already transmit and receive videos), which will further accelerate these trends.

Since virtual workers can be based anywhere, these trends carry obvious potential consequences for rural areas and small-town life, and again by extension, the family. The transient, anonymous suburban "communities" that now house over 80% of Americans (essentially, ghost towns by day, motels by night) no longer need be the only alternative for working parents and their families. A virtual worker can operate from a town in rural Kansas, an island off Maine, a farm in Nebraska, or even a houseboat on a Minnesota lake.

Moreover, in addition to the mobility, the virtual worker enjoys several significant advantages, not the least of which is savings on auto-related expenses. Perhaps most important is that he or she is not locked in to local wages or other economic conditions. The small town in Kansas (whose three-bedroom homes, with emigration, have fallen to rock-bottom prices), can be a lovely place for a family whose employer or clients live in Manhattan, or London, or Los Angeles, or even Kansas City, where hourly fees for business services are much higher than they would be locally.

WHERE TO LEARN MORE

The best place to learn more about virtual opportunities is (of course) online. A few Google searches using such terms as "telework," "virtual assistant" and "freelance" will point you in the right direction. A visit to such organizations as Staffcentrix (www.staffcentrix.com), the International Virtual Assistants Association (the industry association for VAs, at www.ivaa.org) and the International Telework Association & Council (www.workingfromanywhere.org) will also help fill in the gaps.