Business Women Wear Many Different Hats
June 4, 2008 by Bridget Wright
Filed under Business
It’s true. We do sooo much, it’s a wonder that we keep it all straight!
Rico asked the question on his blog (or rather stated) that we all wear many different hats and it’s a challenge to juggle them all. What’s interesting is that everybody thinks they’re busier than the next person, and the next, and the next. You get me.
I for one think I’m busier than ANYbody I know. Yes, I know it’s pretty self-important sounding and all, but I really think I am.
Consider this:
My friends want to be “spontaneous” and what-not all of the time and go for coffee, in the middle of the day! Who has time for that? I’ve got work, AND LOTS OF IT, to do and simply cannot just lag around, drinking coffee all day. See – - they’re not busy.
Then, my husband calls me from (his) work during the day and asks me if I’d:
a) pick up his drycleaning
b) find his checkbook
c) put fresh batteries in his remote for when he gets home
d) see if he left his cell phone on the nighstand. AAAGGHH! What does he think I’m doing? Waiting to GET something to do?OK, so my kids are out for the summer. So they decide, with their friends, that they want to have a water party outside, complete with snacks, water toys, beach balls, the whole 9. And, they want to do it – - tommorrow! Sure, kids. Mom’s not busy. Just waiting to plan you and your friends social lives, that’s all.
Then don’t EVEN get me started with volunteer org.’s and stuff. The church needs helpers for VBS and would I plleeeeezzz fill in? Then, the summer camp community center wants to know if the parent’s can each donate a block of time to help with crafts. WHAT! And then there’s the neighborhood community social group. Having a poolside BBQ. Can you make brownies?
Working from home is not all that it sounds. When you do work from home, there are more things to be concerned with than just getting your work done. Since you are more flexible than say your spouse, significant other, friends or neighbors, more is expected of you and in some cases it’s demanded. But also as freelancers, we have to schedule our time, prioritize and sometimes, just say NO.
We are flexible. We are freelancers. We do and can multi-task. But I’d like to make an announcement to the world…
WE ARE BUSY!!
There. I got that off of my chest.
Tea anyone?
I would like to heartily agree with this post! Just because I work from home and have a certain amount of flexibility doesn’t mean that I have oodles of time available to do whatever I want.
When my husband is home from work (a paid holiday – which I DON’T get) or a sick day or vacation, I think he’s surprised by the fact that I’m actually BUSY WORKING! Not to mention driving our child to and from daycare, making sure there’s food in the house, dealing with the guy repairing the garbage disposal …
:-)
Blessings,
Andrea
I can soo relate to this!
When I say that I work from home so many people seem to think it means I don’t actually do any work. Once I was asked ‘what, you mean you do housework?’
Anyway, I’m sure you are super organised to cope with the multi-tasking! All the best
Ah yes – my friend/life coach was in the middle of a professional phone coaching session with me when her relatives rang the doorbell… and when she didn’t respond – WALKED IN her house! They know she works from home but just expected her to answer the door… apparently no matter what she was doing.
I too have some acquaintences that will call and expect to chat for hours (I think I have the friends trained!); they don’t get that I actually have people who pay me for my attention to their business.
Being focused and productive can be difficult when you’re “on your own” – more so when friends and relatives provide opportunities for you to fail at it! Luckily my husband seldom asks me to do things for him during work hours… I’m very lucky there!
Here’s to supporting each other’s journey!
Veronika
I just spent a significant portion of my afternoon picking up my boyfriend from work and driving him to pick up his car that he (long story) left at an airport 45 minutes away. And oh, by the way, would I mind picking up a book on tape from his apartment that needs to be returned on the way. I’m glad to help out and appreciate the flexibility of my schedule to do so. However, I am relatively new to working from home and I can already see that boundaries will have to be drawn early when doing things for family and friends to prevent that from cutting into my work! :)
OMG! This is so my life and you put it so, so well!! I about fell out of my office chair laughing so hard! I can’t tell you how many times my son has called up to the office “Hey, Mom you gotta check this out!” or “Hey Mom, can you search this up?” I’m beginning to think my name is now “Hey Mom!” LOL! I’m all about supporting other work at home moms!
Bridget,
I know exactly what you mean! Being a work at home mom is extremely time consuming, not the listless hours of casual hang time others may perceive it to be. You’ve posted an excellent blog here, so I thought I would contact you personally.
Now, I’m an official Microsoft ambassador and right now we’re really trying to scale up our connections with influential bloggers like yourself. I’d love to share with you some of the stuff we’ve been doing in the last couple months to help women entrepreneurs; we’re really committed to providing all the necessary resources to help women start, grow and expand their business.
We just wrapped up a women’s entrepreneurial tour across the US called “Vision To Venture;” the response and turn-out was great!
I’d really love your take on these offerings we have right now; I would have contacted you via email but I didn’t know which was the best way to reach you.
Thank you so much, I hope I didn’t overstep my bounds by directly contacting you. Definitely get back to me if I’ve piqued your interest– I’d love to share more info with you.
Best,
Kimberly
Official Microsoft Ambassador
k-rosenberg@live.com
Amen, sister! Until he finally got a navigation system in his work vehicle, my husband use to call me CONSTANTLY to MapQuest things for him. And when I say constantly, I mean 4, 5 times a day. Like I’m not in the middle of something here????
No one’s TRYING to make you crazy when they do this stuff, but man oh man, they sure do it anyway!!!
I wanted to just add another twist to this conversation … apparently, my husband’s company is encouraging their employees to work from home a day or two a week now. This just came up at a conference. He’s all for it – and I HATE the idea.
Do you guys ever feel protective of “your” space, when the hubby and children are off to work and school, and you finally have the house to yourself?
I don’t know why, but having my husband work here, too, feels like “my” space is being invaded! Hee hee.
Blessings,
Andrea
Andrea, I definitely feel territorial about my workspace. My husband has been working from home a LOT lately and we share an office. It is really stressful! He’s on the phone a lot, which makes it hard for me to concentrate. Arg!
kk