We normally think of Public Relations as a high powered career… not the province of a work from home mom.
Gina Seamans recently told StartUpJournal’s Mark Hendricks how she made working from home “work”…
1. Teaching the kids to respect the office and work time. When I’m working, they must go to Dad for everything. Before entering the office, they must knock and be invited in. They are never allowed to touch the computer, copier or fax.
2. Keeping office stuff in the office. The boys are often tempted to use my cool office supplies as their art supplies. That’s a big no-no.
3. Controlling the phone. While many children begin answering the phone at 4 or 5, we just recently decided to teach our 8-year-old how. We’ve always discouraged the kids from the phone because we have a home and a business line.
4. Maintaining a schedule. It is difficult to keep working when I can hear the boys having a blast in the backyard. I try to be flexible and break away from the office when I can and keep working when I must.
5. Managing client perceptions. Some clients do not care for a home-office arrangement, but I’m always up front about it, because I know there might be one or two times they will hear a little voice in the background during a phone call.
6. Staying motivated. Many days I’d rather play with the kids all day. Some days I do play hooky, but other days I must remind myself that they are my motivation for work, as well as play.
Read more…
Lori on July 22nd, 2009 at 9:06 pm
You are so correct about working from home some of the challenges can be difficult to overcome. I personally have been working from home for the past 6 years doing IM . I find the hardest is finding a way to stay constantly motivated being at home, at least when I first started working at home. I follow a schedule just as if I had a job away from home. I have set hours I work although I always seem to work longer lol because honestly I love my career. And as you said some folks I do business with hate the fact I work out of my home office if they hear my kids or dogs and say you cant really be making any money at this? Well I try to not seem rude about it but I make more than most with a regular full time job. Thank you for this great site I just stumbled upon it and will be in often it is great I love to communicate and read fellow people who make a living working from home so I don’t feel so alone anymore.