I’m a work at home mom, and I love what I do. I can’t imagine doing anything else! But in the beginning, I admit that I had a very unrealistic view of what working at home meant.
I had big dreams of taking care of my baby’s every whim, having dinner on the table at six sharp, having a perfectly clean house and managing to work enough during my child’s naptime to pay all my bills, plus have some money left over for the little things, like going to a movie with friends or spending half a day at the shopping mall.
Ahem.
Reality set in during the second week of working at home, when I realized I had a deadline looming (in only twelve hours!), a child sick with something that he would surely need a doctor’s visit to cure, a messy house and not a single thought given toward dinner.
That was when I wound up making that trip to the doctor, pulling an all-nighter to meet my deadline, letting the house go (who was coming over, anyway?) and picking up dinner from a fast food place.
Working at home is not easy. It is a rewarding thing, both for your own sanity and your child’s well-being, but that does not mean it’s easy! Working at home requires a juggling act the likes of which you would never see in any magic show. It requires time management skills that would make any CEO proud. It requires knowing how to let the little things go in order to deal with the big things. No time to wash dishes? Invest in paper plates. Your child is home from school sick for two days? Be prepared with a babysitter on call and be ready to change your work schedule to accomodate the sudden change.
Most of all, be realistic about the financial constraints of working at home. When you are first starting out, don’t plan to make thousands of dollars in your very first month – that is likely not going to happen. In fact, you might put more money into starting up your business than you are actually making, so before you take the work at home challenge, make sure you have enough savings to handle the shortfall, or a full-time job outside the home to fall back on. You’ll be glad you made sure of that safety net!
Eventually you will get into the swing of things. After a few months of trial and error, your misconceptions will be put to rest, you will be managing your time, and you will be able to breathe a sigh of relief. Soon after that, you will wonder why in the world you ever worked outside the home!
Stay realistic, give yourself some time to adjust, and always remember to cut yourself some slack. All the worthwhile things in life come to you with a bit of effort, and working at home is the same way. So take a deep breath, get ready to jump into the deep end, and remember – it won’t be chaos forever!
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