The truth about working for yourself...
Everybody always tells me that I'm lucky, "You work from home, you don't answer to anyone, you don't sit in traffic, you obviously make a lot of money, you can take leave whenever you like". Yes I work from home; No, I answer to every single one of my clients; Yes, I don't sit in traffic; No, I don't always make a lot of money; Yes, but when I go on leave I take my laptop and 3G along and work.
When you work from home, it's a lot harder to manage your time, you don't get to go to work from 8-5, with a lunch hour and 2 coffee breaks. You answer client calls at 8 in the evening, or at 6:30 in the morning. You work for every single penny you can possibly bring in, since if you don't make money, there's no salary that appears in your bank account on the 25th. If you didn't get work in, you don't pay the bills.
As a mom, working from home, you try your utmost best to put the children first, to spend extra time with them, to be there whenever they need you. To be able to take them to the doctor immediately if they need. This poses a problem as even though you're always there for them, it breaks your concentration and it makes it difficult to be productive at work. There are a lot more calls for "Mommy" when you work at home and a lot less places to hide.
When you work from home, your family sometimes take the approach that you have more hours in a day than them, so you obviously have more time to do admin, household chores, quick trips to the shop. This causes a lot of conflict at home, as no matter how you try to explain that 24 hours is still just 24 hours, it doesn't always make sense. You end up taking on a lot more of the day to day tasks, dropping kids off, picking them up, checking that the creepy is running, quickly measuring the wall for the shelving. There are many more distractions when you work from home. It's much harder to set a disciplined schedule, to prioritize. Even though I don't mind doing the extra tasks (most of the time) it does take up time.
When you work for yourself, your holidays are work days to, as if you have access to email and internet, you can always just quickly send a letter, make a call etc. You never stop working. Even when on sick leave, or lying in hospital, you WORK.
The hardest part of working for yourself is probably the money thing, if clients don't pay on time, you may end up struggling to pay your bills. You often have to max out the credit cards in order to manage your finances. Its not always easy.
A friend of mine that also works for herself said the truest thing the other day.
" I'm always doing something and never seem to get anything done"
- Toppie se Vrou
When you work from home, it's a lot harder to manage your time, you don't get to go to work from 8-5, with a lunch hour and 2 coffee breaks. You answer client calls at 8 in the evening, or at 6:30 in the morning. You work for every single penny you can possibly bring in, since if you don't make money, there's no salary that appears in your bank account on the 25th. If you didn't get work in, you don't pay the bills.
As a mom, working from home, you try your utmost best to put the children first, to spend extra time with them, to be there whenever they need you. To be able to take them to the doctor immediately if they need. This poses a problem as even though you're always there for them, it breaks your concentration and it makes it difficult to be productive at work. There are a lot more calls for "Mommy" when you work at home and a lot less places to hide.
When you work from home, your family sometimes take the approach that you have more hours in a day than them, so you obviously have more time to do admin, household chores, quick trips to the shop. This causes a lot of conflict at home, as no matter how you try to explain that 24 hours is still just 24 hours, it doesn't always make sense. You end up taking on a lot more of the day to day tasks, dropping kids off, picking them up, checking that the creepy is running, quickly measuring the wall for the shelving. There are many more distractions when you work from home. It's much harder to set a disciplined schedule, to prioritize. Even though I don't mind doing the extra tasks (most of the time) it does take up time.
When you work for yourself, your holidays are work days to, as if you have access to email and internet, you can always just quickly send a letter, make a call etc. You never stop working. Even when on sick leave, or lying in hospital, you WORK.
The hardest part of working for yourself is probably the money thing, if clients don't pay on time, you may end up struggling to pay your bills. You often have to max out the credit cards in order to manage your finances. Its not always easy.
A friend of mine that also works for herself said the truest thing the other day.
" I'm always doing something and never seem to get anything done"
- Toppie se Vrou
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