Maybe you choose to make your money through affiliate marketing. Maybe you run a highly successful eBay store. Or maybe you choose to take the freelance writing path like me. Whatever the case, you may have taken the plunge and are currently working from home.
While there is certainly a community of work at home moms online, you also have to remember that there are other people who choose to make their living from their living rooms too. Buzz Bishop, for example, reminds us that there are work-at-home dads too. And then there are people who like me who are neither moms nor dads, but we treat our home-based businesses just as seriously as someone who chooses to open up a coffee shop or clothing store.
When you are first transitioning from a conventional job to one where you work from home, you may not really feel like you’re a “work at home” kind of person right away. Soon, however, you’ll start to discover the symptoms of home-based entrepreneurship.
- You get an oil change on the car once a year, not because you can’t afford a more frequent schedule, but because you only rack up 6,000km (~3700 miles) in 12 months.
- You’re the only one there when you go to visit the zoo. That’s because it’s a Wednesday afternoon.
- You sit at your computer well into the wee hours of the night, because you have a client’s project that absolutely must be finished by the morning. Meanwhile, Stephen Colbert is cracking jokes in the background.
- You have an alarm clock in your bedroom, but you don’t set an alarm.
- You don’t really notice when it is a public holiday, because you’re probably going to treat it like a regular work day anyway.
- You haven’t taken a vacation that wasn’t work-related in over two years.
- You take a long look at each sales receipt, thinking about whether you can write off any portion of the purchase as a business expense.
- You swear never to work in a conventional office ever again.
Do any of these symptoms sound familiar? Congratulations and welcome to the world of working from home.
I find getting actual work done at home is the hardest part of working from home. Even though I have an office, the lure of other things in the home have a pull.
I’ve recently found a desk at a “real” office where I can come and go as I please while getting a “real” workplace ethic reinforced.
Another colleague experienced the same problem. Even with the door closed, when your wife and infant are at home too, they will call your name and ask for help. He rents out a very small workspace for $150/mo (less than the minimum latte ration by hanging at a cafe) and has a chance to get real work done.
Even when you “work from home” sometimes you need to find a place outside your home to get any real work done.
I have to agree. You do everything except work!
damn.. this is the funniest thing i ever read from your blog kwan.. it’s damn make me lol… work from home is my choice also.. i make more than $2000 monthly and it’s fun..
I related to all of those. lol
Working from home is great, but as for the oil change, it’s every three months, or kilometres (whichever comes first).
Well, I can leave myself in the employed somewhere other than home. I’d love to be able to work from home, but don’t have the lead money to just do it for 6 months.
I had a good laugh on the visiting the zoo one. I went on vacation recently and hit the San Diego zoo on a Monday- let me tell you, I WISH I was the only one there. I know it’s a bigger draw then the Orlando locations, but it was PACKED!