This one's pretty easy. H is for Hard Work. When you work for yourself, you work harder than you've ever worked before. Look at me now. I work 10 - 12 hour days, yet I know that marketing is a crucial part of what we do too, so here I am putting in an extra bit of work by writing a blog post.Working for yourself is Hard Work. I always laugh when people tell me they're going to do what I do so that they can have more time with their children. I've done this since 2005, and I can tell you that I spent more time with my children pre Typewrite Transcription, when I had an 8 - 5 office job. My children are 15 and 13 now and they've practically raised themselves. So if you think you're going to spend more time with your children, this is not for you.
Firstly, you need to be working at least 8 hours a day. So for example if you're busy with work that takes you three hours to complete, make sure the other five are filled with things that will be productive towards creating more income. Marketing, admin, improving processes, invoicing. Once you keep yourself on focus, you'll find that your 8 hours and more are filled every day, and pretty soon, those 8 hours (and more) will be filled with actual work, and you'll be wondering when you're going to find time to do blogs, admin, invoices, etc, etc.
That's about all there is to it, really. You're here to WORK. Work at homers often come up against prejudices. Those who work in offices sometimes seem to think that we aren't really working. Well, we are. Probably more than you, because.. yes, we don't commute. We get up, see the kids and hubby off, and then ... don't spend any time in the car, we go straight to the office, and work. We don't knock off at 5 and drive home, we knock off at 6 or 7, or not at all. There have been so many times that I've sat down to work, thought to myself that in an hour or two I'd go and get breakfast - and then turned around and it's 2pm and I haven't had breakfast OR lunch.
H is for Hard Work.
I will allow that maybe there is a bit more flexibility - I can for example stop and go and fetch my son from school, and he can stay home from school when he's ill without it being a problem, although there are some days I wish I could get a tutor for my boys to help with homework - I have fleeting thoughts of maybe they aren't getting enough input from me. In fact, I know they aren't, and too many are the times when I've chased them out the office because I have a crazy deadline.
So if you don't want to work hard, and want to have a half day job or spend time with your children, this isn't going to work for you. If you're prepared to give almost your every waking moment to getting it off the ground, then you can do it.
I'm repeating this title over and over. H is for Hard work. H is for Hard Work. And one more, for luck. H is for Hard Work.
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3 comments:
Boom! Nailed it. This is THE blog post:-) The way the words flow, the emotion, the humour, the facts....Gaynor... she is a good writer:-)
And ja, I agree with all you say about hard work. When you work for yourself, you work longer hours, get to do tasks that you don't like, which chances are, your employer would have hired someone else who likes doing that kind of thing, but you are your own employer. Sometimes I'd wake up at 3am to finish a job that has a tight deadline and I'd look at my sleepy face in the mirror and think," surely there must be easier ways to make money." and there probably are easier ways to make money. I just happen to love writing , despite the work and the long hours, so those easier ways are not for me.
Oh, and come see my new home office on my blog. It rocks. Wish we were still near each other and you could come for coffee. Cos maaan, it's homey and friendly and just what I needed.
Thanks for the awesome comment my friend. Coming from one of the best writers I know, that's high praise indeed and very valued.
I wish there were more words in the English language to describe working from home. It IS hard. And I came from working in a customer service environment and 6 months later decided to work from home. My goodness, the hours, the dedication, the not being able to call in the office and say I’m sick, and not coming in!
I’ve sometimes worked close to 20 hours days! I’m sure it’s not 20 hours straight at the computer, but the interruptions, cooking dinner, laundry, talking with children, it is a steady back and forth dance all day! Your schedule really doesn’t exist. This post screams to my friends and family… I’m not crazy! It’s not just me! Others have to work just as hard as I do, because running a business at home is NOT easy. Thanks for the post!
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