In my last blog I talked about the pros to working from home. Although some may think that there can’t possibly be anything negative about working from home, there are some cons that need to be considered.
One of the pros mentioned was being home with your children. This can actually be a con, as well. Not that being with your children is a negative but making it work can be difficult. Working from home with children around can be a real challenge; this is especially true if you have younger children.
I recently took on more work with a company that I write web content for. Instead of remaining as an independent contractor, where I could either accept or decline assignments, I am now an exclusive contractor. That means I get a set amount of work each week. In other words, it’s not an option as to whether or not I want to do the work. It is my assigned work for the week.
With my children being on summer vacation it has been a huge challenge with all of the interruptions and stopping my work to chauffer them around. The first week was so difficult I began to question if I could do it. I am just at the end of my second week and with some tweaking, it has gone better.
I anticipate that it will continue to get better and before you know it they will be back in school. However, you really need to give it some thought for your personal family situation and be realistic about whether or not it can work.
Another con to working from home is that you won’t succeed unless you are disciplined. I often hear others say that they couldn’t do what I do because they would be watching TV or surfing the internet. It is tempting to do those things. That was my biggest temptation when I first started working from home. I overcame that area and have become disciplined.
Now my latest struggle is not stopping every minute to pick up something around the house, wash dishes, throw in laundry and any other number of things that I see need to be done. When I do that, I lose valuable work time.
Working from home doesn’t work for everyone and you may have your own list of cons that could make it a challenge. Take time to really consider whether or not this is something you can be successful at.
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