I have ran my own successful home based company now since early 2004. Leaving the office all of those years ago it was a dream to be a success and run my own business. I had longed to run my own business for many years, but the home company was my first attempt at escaping office life and a worrying step.
That aside, as a parent of a young child it was a dream come true. Suddenly I worked my own hours, decided my own working days and arranged everything around how I wanted my life to run.
The dream come true!
This is an excellent set-up. No longer do I need to worry round who is picking my daughter up from school and looking after her until one of us has got home from work. If my daughter has a school event I might plan my day round this.
I might work evenings or weekends to fit in round family commitments. If we want to go away for some days then that is prospective, even taking a laptop with me to keep up with work in the evenings and free time. I might even continue my work during a long journey or whilst sitting watching the TV with my family.
The other side of the coin
But it is not all good news. My work at home is our family’s main income, so there is quite regularly the worry as to where the next customer will come from and will there be money coming in next month. There is also the lack of certainty. Will there be enough new customers next month? Will existing customers renew and pay up on the invoices that I have written?
Every time a customer defaults and I am unable to get them to pay up it is me that personally loses out. Every customer that is late paying up affects my bank balance, adding to the building worry of customers defaulting and me not getting my monthly wages.
Yes, work at home as a parent is a dream, but there are ample of worries round marketing the business, getting the new work in and getting paid up for all of the effort once it is completed. There can be ample of worries.
On balance…
But work at home, when ran successfully, is a dream. Don’t put your eggs all in the same basket so if one part of the company struggles there is a regular income from another part. Then continue your work at times that suit you and your family best. Whether that is a few hours in the day and more in the evening is up to you. As long as you might motivate yourself to work hard you choose your own hours about your family’s plans, even working literally round the plans when you are away with them.
Home working as a parent is a dream come true as you could spend your hours better with your family, but at a price!