successful home working
Home versus Work?
I won’t be posting here for a few days as I’m utilising one of the perks of the self-employed homeworker and taking some time off to spend with my parents. I honestly don’t how I would fit in all my domestic and family commitments if I had to turn up at a place of work every weekday.
I suppose over the years I’ve got used to working during the evening when other people are putting their feet up, and at weekends when others are switching off. It seems a more than fair price to pay for the privilege of taking weekdays off to see relatives or have a short break.
I think that when you work from home you inevitably start to experience ‘work’ and ‘home’ as interwoven strands of your life, and not as the distinct entities people often do when they physically move between one and the other. I guess it depends on your personality whether you regard that as an advantage or not, not to mention how much you like your work.
See you soon!
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website work in progress hopefully up and running by April. Along with Also http://www.healing-horizons.com. I have worked from home for many years now, in my dual role as complimentary therapist my treatment room a very beautiful dedicated room in my home. I used to many moons work from a centre but found you were limited to certain days, the room was not large and lack of control of noise phone’s ringing etc not conductive to a relaxing environment as it should have been.Working from home allows me to be in complete control of the environment and my diary it has worked out very well. The downside is you have to be completely on top of cleaning etc which can be a pressure with a young family, you do no longer walk out the front door and it does not matter, however this is a small price to pay for the benefits. Clients who saw me in the centre and then in the treatment room at home absolutely loved the change and space. Organisation would be the key word to sum up.
I hope this helps.
Maria-
Maria, I have found this to be one of the major issues in inviting clients into your own home – making sure the whole place is presentable before they arrive! Chapter 4 in the book looks at the advantages and disadvantages of seeing people at home. A lot depends on what kind of work you do. As a therapist you are providing a very personal service and I expect this is enhanced at home. It’s a different matter if you work in a very conventional business!
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#5 written by anne 2 years ago
Maria’s comments made me remember when I decided to go to a beautician who worked from home. I was living in a new place and wanted to support small local businesses. I made the appointment, arrived exactly on time and was greeted by a flustered beautician still trying to put her lipstick on and a barking snarling dog, who continued to bark during my whole treatment! She was so apologetic and I felt bad for her. Very difficult, the whole juggling act is bound to fail sometimes but it shows how easy it is to give a very bad first impression. Actually Judy, I feel a bit of a fraud for being on your website. I don’t work from home but now I’ve discovered your website via Margaret I keep checking it out. It’s all very interesting.
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Oh dear, that is so unprofessional and exactly the image we want to get away from! I bet that experience put you off dealing with home-based businesses, and I don’t blame you. The comments you and Maria have put on have reminded me of an experience I had, which I didn’t think to put in the book, so I’m going to write a post on it.
And don’t feel a fraud at all! I am delighted if you find the site interesting enough to keep coming back, that’s exactly what I’m trying to achieve! And anyway, it’s immensely valuable for us homeworkers to get feedback from a customer. A successful businessman I know always says ‘Make sure you’re not giving the customer what you think they want – find out what they actually want and supply it.’ So your contribution is very useful!
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I think that it is increasingly difficult to keep the strands of home and work separate. My friend Stu who works from home with his Mountain bike TV company (mtbcut.tv) is really finding this at the moment. He is meant to be taking a weeks holiday with his girlfriend this week, however is still answering e-mails and is struggling to prevent himself from doing a spot of editing when Amber isn’t looking.
He said that really there isn’t a chance for total down time because his work is central to his life. Mountain biking is his passion as well as his work. This does seem to be how home working pans out in a lot of cases.-
I think that the division between work and life came about as a result of the Industrial Revolution, when people had to leave their homes to do something rather unpleasant in order to earn the money to survive. What’s happening now is that people like Stu are able to do something they love while staying at home and so the boundaries aren’t as clear-cut. The distinction then is about the time spent enjoying/working and the time spent with family and friends. It can be very difficult to completely stop working when you enjoy it so much and when your customers, colleagues etc are still trying to reach you.
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The down side is that people think you’re always available, a bit as if you’re retired too…..Like my in-laws. GRRR.