There are several things that can stop you from working from home. Let’s face it working from home is not always easy but being prepared will make it easier to handle if something comes up unexpectedly.
Illness of Family Members
When you are working from home most often you will not have someone to cover you, what will happen if you suddenly get a call from school that your child is sick? I doubt that you will be able to just drop everything and go pick up junior which is what you will want to do.
I had this happen a lot when my daughter was ill at first. You need to talk to a relative or friend that is close by and see if you can use them as a backup. Can they pick up junior when they are sick? Set up a family and friend support system now before it happens. It will make it easier for you to continue to work and keep your focus where it needs to be.
Technical Issues
This is something that you never had to think about when you were working in the brick and mortar.
The technical department was always readily available to fix your computer. From home that won’t be the case. If your DSL goes out or your computer gets a virus, you need a plan in effect. Have a technical person that you know is good one phone call away or plan on going somewhere else to use a computer if necessarily.
The most important thing in this case is that you communicate with your clients what is going on. They need to be aware if some project is going to be running late.
Loneliness Issues
Working from home can be lonely. You don’t have co-workers to share your stories with in person anymore. You can overcome this by scheduling time in your work/life schedule so that you get that time with others. Such as: make play dates for your kids but work in the evenings.
People thinking that you should be able to help/volunteer
One of the very first things I found out about working from home was that now people assume that you can volunteer for everything or they can just stop in. You have to be honest with your family and friends that you have to work to earn money that just because you work from home does not mean you have that free time. Screen your calls and don’t take personal ones during your work hours.
Children aren’t sleeping when scheduled
You have the perfect schedule. Everything is all set up but junior isn’t following with your program. The baby is not sleeping. You need to have someone on back up to take care of them.
These are just a few of the pitfalls of working at home. Its how you deal with them that shows how competent you are to your client. Be prepared.
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My biggest problem lately has been the kids not sleeping on schedule. In addition my 6 year old is home for the summer and this has been hard to work around.
Can you send your kids out for play dates? Maybe you can switch off with another parent so that you can get some free time. Then they will get free time when you cover.
I, too, miss the presence of co-workers and my customers. I loved the social aspect of working in the traditional way and I am glad for the 25 years as a Department Manager selling small appliances. I try to think of this as a new journey and try and stay busy so the loneliness doesn't get the best of me. Enjoyed your post!
I could not agree more about what people think when you say that you work from home! My aunt who rents my downstairs apartment from me feels like just because I work from home, I can drop everything I got going on to go pick up her kid from here or there whenever she calls. I learned to screen my calls long ago, I have a separate line for work stuff, & a different ringer for my aunt (so I don't even have to bother looking at the phone anymore) & my own child's school (so I know its an emergency)!
Good tip for trying to avoid the loneliness.
Tami,
It's so true that people (like family members) think that because you work from home you have all this free time. For the past 2 years, I've telecommuted twice a week for my 9 to 5 job and I'm still dealing with this issue.