Working From Home...It's Work!
Working From Home...It's Work!
Remember when your mother told you that nothing good is ever easy? I hate to be the one to tell you this, but she was right.
I read a lot of blogs. Many of them are written by my competition and many by my potential clients. I read about people with craft businesses and web design businesses and freelance writing businesses and accounting businesses, and everything in between. If you can imagine it, someone's turned it into a business. I work with a pretty broad spectrum of humanity. One of the things I read and hear most often is the hugely pervasive myth that making money from home is easy.
This myth has always been prevalent. The internet did not create this idea, but it's certainly expanded it. Avon, Amway, Mary Kay, stuffing envelopes — the list started long before there was a computer in every home. Some of these businesses are legitimate and some of them are far from it, but one thing you can say for all of them is they ain't easy.
Most of the people I know with home businesses work at least 12 hours a day. I'm writing this at 11:38 p.m. on a Sunday night. I'll be at the computer for at least another couple of hours. There hasn't been a day on which I have not worked since August. I worked on Christmas. So did most of the people I know.
Don't get me wrong. It's fun and it's rewarding and it's a whole lot better than pulling on the pantyhose and heading out to the office, but easy it is not.
I don't ever want to try and dissuade someone from running their own business. I am the one who cuddles my baby when he's sick and there's nothing that will ever compare to that. But the idea that you can just spend a few hours a week and you'll make enough money to feed your family is just not true. I'm starting to resent the implication that it is.
In six hours I will get up and start working again. I'll take my son to the part-time nanny I'm fortunate to have and work like a dog until he gets home. I'll spend a few hours with him before he goes down for his nap and do the same thing all over again. Hopefully I'll squeeze in some time with my oldest in there, but he's largely his father's responsibility, for which I'm eternally grateful. If he wasn't, I couldn't succeed in this business. I love what I do, but I have a feeling I do too much of it.
When starting your business, think about these things. Think about the time commitment that is going to be involved. Think about whether or not you're ready to embark on this kind of path. There are many good reasons to go into business for yourself, but easy isn't one of them.
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