Somebody who had seen one of my brochures rang me yesterday to say she was considering finding a work from home job, and was what I do easy?
I stopped to look at my situation before considering my reply. I had just developed a head cold and was not feeling at my best - sinussy, clogged, sneezy. I was busy with transcribing a two day conference for a regular client who doesn't usually send regular work, but who contacted me yesterday to say it was urgent and she needed it back this morning (which I have completed - with the help of fab sub contractors). I am the mom of two and it's rather a choppy period for them at the moment - one is battling with his schoolwork and the other changing schools next year.
Before I could answer, the lady continued to say that she wanted to spend more time with her children and therefore wanted to work from home. And I always feel like I'm letting people down when I tell them that since starting doing this, I spend less time with my children and that no, it's not easy. I spent about 6 months when I first started out working 24/7 on my business and some days I still have to do that, depending on my clients.
When you get those regular clients in, it becomes a bit easier, but just like a boss in an office, a client wants his work back - whether or not your child has a difficult homework project, etc. And regular clients are not that easy to find and must be treasured when you do find them.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to put people off, it's just that I have five years experience doing this and I call a spade a spade. If you want something for nothing, to spend all day long with your children, and to be able to nurse yourself back to health in bed when you have a cold, this job is not for you. But if you want to be your own boss, build a business for yourself and a heritage for your children and have good typing and grammatical skills and a professional manner - then yes!
3 comments:
Working from home is not easy, regardless of the work you do. As you know I work from home as a writer, and I can honestly say that some days the hours are longer than when I used to work in an office. And i find that, because I am not in an office, under close supervision of an employer, I am under more pressure to deliver. If you have a head cold, your employer may very well reassign the job and tell you to go home and get better. Because I work from home, I'm always plagued by the fear that clients will read my "I'm sick" as "I spent the time I should have been working watching soaps, taking care of my children and hanging out at the mall with friends. So I'm making up an illness so you'll extend my deadline." Not that that is what they will think, but unless I'm about to keel over, I can work:-)
It certainly isn't easy doing this job. In fact I think it's a lot harder and more time consuming that working in an office. Especially at this time of year, how do you explain to children that you can't come to a Christmas concert because a client has just landed you with work that needs to be done urgently. If you worked in an office, there is "usually" someone who can help do the basics of the job at least before you need to finish it off. This job is certinaly not for the faint hearted and one of the most pressing needs to working from home is the ability to have htat self discepline to not sit and watch all the soapies during the day, or spend the day in the garden, or shops, when you should be working.
Working from home is very useful for housewives.
Regards,
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