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Working from Home, finding Balance
Working from home is wonderful. You can work when you like or when you can. You
can be feeding your baby and typing an email. It’s wonderful and it’s a joy,
NOT!
Let’s face it work is still work. And working
from home is great, you can work when your schedule allows but let’s face it
feeding your baby and writing an email is a recipe for disaster.
Here are some tips to make things easier:
1. A workspace. You really need to have an office
or sectioned off corner where you can work and your home life stays out. And
vice versa work stays out of home life.
2. Time. You still need to set aside time to
work. If you’ve got kids this may mean hiring a baby sitter to be there at the
house while you’re working. If you can’t afford that this may mean working while
your significant other is home to watch the kids.
3. Organization. You really really really need to
be organized. You must keep home out of work and work out of home. I’m including
office hours of some sort in this. You really shouldn’t be feeding your kids and
working at the same time.
4. Balance. You must find balance. Remember a
work from home job is still a small business and if you find that you need to
work 70 hours per week from home to make it work then maybe it’s not worth it.
Most people work from home for more family time.
Remember though that just because you’re physically there with your family
doesn’t equate to being WITH them. If you’re goal is to spend more time with
your family and make a “little” extra money then it may work for you. But if
you’re having dreams of an extra home and longer vacations I’ll break it to you
now it’s not going to happen.
I personally work from home so that I can
maintain my career while I have a young child at home. I work only when my
daughter doesn’t need me. And I only work when my husband can watch after her,
or she’s asleep! It’s not easy but it’s allowing me to keep my career going, if
at a slower pace, while I enjoy time with my family when it counts.
Once my daughter is old enough for school I plan
to work while she’s at school but once she’s home and on weekends it will be no
work for me.
It is hard to set aside work when I know it needs done or I just want to do it.
I do enjoy my job tremendously. But my family comes first and I know that
someday my daughter will be a teen with her own life doing her own thing, and
then I’ll be able to return to my career full time and work as much as I’d like.
Copyright 2007 Kelly Paal
Kelly Paal is a Freelance Nature and Landscape Photographer, exhibiting
nationally and internationally. She started her own business Kelly Paal
Photography. She has an educational background in photography, business, and
commercial art. Please visit www.kellypaalphotography.com for more FREE how to
articles.
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