The Truth About Working From Home

Working from home can be a great way to make a living but it is not without its challenges. There are a lot of factors to think about when deciding if you want to work for yourself or not. There are a lot of aspects to working from home that need to be thought about. Working from home isn’t as simple as just sitting in front of a computer with your pjs on.

You Have To Balance Everything

When you work outside the home, you still have to balance everything but when your work is in your home, it can get even more complicated. When do you do the dishes? When should you work on decluttering? When should you have some free time? It is hard to figure it all out when you are working from the same place you call home. It takes a lot of balance and good scheduling to figure it out. I have been doing this balancing act for years and still find that part complicated.

You Make Your Own Deadlines

If you are working for someone else, you will have a deadline. If you are not or you are working on your own business, you might not. You have to make your own deadlines and you won’t have anyone enforcing them. It is best to make up deadlines for items that don’t have one. That way, you have a date you have to get things done by. I know I can get more done when I do this.

You Have To Work Around Your Family

One of the benefits of having someone work from home is that you don’t always have to pay for daycare. Depending on the job and your situation, you can work around your kids being home whether it is during vacation or even when they have a snow day which happens year almost every single year. Although it is nice to not have to worry about daycare, it is hard to work around you kids. It is best to have a good plan for when they are home. Some people work only when their children are asleep, others find things for their kids to do while they can put in a few work hours before going out and starting the day.

You Need A Good Space To Work

Part of working from home is having a good place to do it in. For some this means an office with a door they can close, for others this just means a place with a laptop and a notebook. Think about what you would need to be successful and create a space that works for you and your business goals.

Your Spouse Needs To Support You

I am not sure it would be possible to work from home without the support of my husband. If he wasn’t for me doing that, I  could never make this work. I need to depend on him for help with our boys or understand when I need time to work. If you have a spouse that doesn’t get working from home, try to sit down with them to explain. Show them your plans for making money and hopefully, that will help them see that you are serious about wanting to do this.

You Will Want To Give Up

Somedays I think it would be easier to just find a regular 9-5 job and call this whole working from home thing quits. Then I think about everything I have worked towards the last few years, all the reasons I started working from home in the first place and all the stories I have heard of people who have really achieved their goals and dreams at home, I know I can do it too.

You Will Get Lonely

One reason working from home won’t work for everyone is because when you work in an office of one, you can get lonely. I love the idea of co-working although that doesn’t seem to be a thing where I live. I think if I was in a bigger city I would try to take advantage of that. Co-working is where you rent a space for a day to work with others who are also working for themselves. It is like going to an office but you still get to work for you. I think that could help with getting too lonely. Overall I enjoy being by myself during the day but I also get to where I need to talk to others. Where I miss being in an office and where I have to figure out ways to get out and see other people during the work day.

The truth about working from home is that it is hard and it isn’t for everyone. You have to be okay with doing life a little differently and you have to be creative with how it all plays out.

Do you work from home? What do you do???

Looking for work at home job ideas?