The bad rep of working from home
February 26, 2008 by ShannonCherry
Filed under Business
Since I started my own business out of my home a few years ago, I noticed a trend with many other work-at-home moms that’s beginning to irk me.They moan and complain about not being successful.
The real problem is many work at home moms fail to realize that they are business owners, and thus should be acting like business owners. Those who do not continue to give the term “Work at Home Mom” a bad rep.
Let’s admit it: the label of being a “Woman Entrepreneur” who works out of her home gets much more respect than the label “Work at Home Mom.”
Sad, but true. And why I do not call myself the latter.
Part of the reason is that a stereotype for moms who run a business already exists: work at home moms are not real business owners. And that hurts us all.
Too many moms just wing it and try to fit work in whenever and wherever possible. If you ask me, this is a surefire road to burnout. While it doesn’t have to be traditional, you do need to have a plan.
When you own a business, no matter how big or small, there are rules, behavior AND ethics that you need to adhere to.
Being a work at home mom doesn’t give you the right to take short cuts, shun a responsibility or commitment and doesn’t give you the right to get special treatment or freebies just because you are a mom in business. Then there are the basic “do’s and don’ts” that should be incorporated into the way you conduct yourselves with others in business.
I know; I know. Your kids are why you decided to work at home. And kids are the most unpredictiable things on the planet. But if you can manage a two year old having a temper tantrum, you can manage your business.
This is entirely a pet peeve of mine. As a freelance writer, I get the opportunity to talk to plenty of other freelancers who are almost proud of how little they know about actual business practices — and how much their businesses suffer for it.
The average freelance writer earns $12K a year (and that’s with Stephen King and J.K. Rowling pulling up the average). It’s tragic to think about how just a few simple improvements could a writer’s income above that average.
My kids are not the reason I decided to work from home. I decided to begin a business from home because I was sick of having to do things “a certain way” when there was a better way. I felt caged and dumbed-down in a corporate environment where people worked 2 out of 8 hours and spend the rest of the time stealing post-it notes and hating life.
When I began to work from home I thought I struck gold when I found the community of moms that work from home.
In my mind I thought I had found business owners that had to balance children in the house with success. What I found were “moms first” that would reschedule business meetings or schedule calls when the kids were awake without an afterthought.
Not all of them were this way, of course, but the number that are out prioritizing their children (aka never teaching a proper work ethic) is staggering.
I’m a business owner and a mother. These are two things that I fit together in my life. They don’t go together like peanut butter and chocolate, as some might assume. It takes far more work to find creative ways for children to be entertained so I can concentrate for definite periods of time…but I figured it out because I had to, or I wouldn’t have a successful bill-paying savings-account-funding business.
I’d have a hobby.
And hobbies aren’t my style.
Great post, Shannon. It got me all riled up – yelling “Amen!” in my head LOL
Awesome post Shannon. I completely agree with you and have had experience trying to explain that I am a business owner and a mother (two separate things, but both important things too!).