Are you discontented? If so, make that discontent into a positive thing! Allow it to spur you into new thinking, into new action. Like making the leap to become a work at home mom, to start your own home-based business, to dream for and work toward something different than your current situation.
Or, if you already are a work at home mom, use discontent to sharpen your focus, advance your skills and/or to (once again) dream for and work toward something different than your current situation!
I addressed a toleration today. What, you say? You don’t know what a toleration is or how it likes to be addressed?! Well, if you’re a work at home mom, I bet you have a lot of them and it would be my pleasure to invite you to address them.
You see, my business coach introduced me some time ago to tolerations – things big or small that we “tolerate” because we’ve just gotten used to them or don’t want to take the time to adjust them, or think we have more pressing things to do than to order our environments. And so we just put up with these things, we tolerate them.
To address a toleration simply means to fix/adjust/correct/alter whatever it is that you are tolerating so that it is no longer a source of irritation. To take the time and make it a priority to create order in your environment (working environment for the purposes of the work at home mom). Ahhhh…just to think about an orderly workspace makes me feel good.
So, what did I do? I moved a computer speaker about six inches to a different spot, so there would be room to push my keyboard back when I wanted a larger desk area for non-computer projects. Yep, that’s it. Six inches. And I did a little other rearranging to maximize the space. Not a big deal. But I had just been tolerating the less ideal arrangement of computer paraphernalia every time I wanted to work at my desk because, well, because, I just did! But no more.
Perhaps these kind of things would be addressed in the corporate world by human resource departments or quality control folks who ensure a smooth, efficient flow of work. But for those of us working at home, it’s up to us to craft an orderly setting that maximizes our efforts. And so, we get the pleasure of addressing tolerations.
What tolerations would you like to address?
This comment was spoken about a friend, “Jane”, by the mother of one of her high school friends who had just learned that Jane is a homeschooling mom whose nonmom work is also done largely from home. Jane and I shared a laugh recently about this type of prejudice, if you will, and how short-sighted it is.
First and foremost, there is nothing as “something” as raising children and doing it well. Secondly, the work at home stuff that Jane does IS really something – as an advising teacher (and sometime political lobbyist) for other homeschool families, she’s competent, professional, articulate, and contributing to the greater good.
You ARE something, Jane. Just keep laughing! 
Sometimes it’s the little things that can stop us from moving forward as work at home moms. You know what I mean? For example, let’s say you want to do some web work in your home-based business, but you need to access a site with a password you don’t have memorized, and you’re not sure where you recorded that password. Or you intend to send an e-mail to a client and want to take full advantage of your signature line, but you haven’t made the time to develop the “best” signature, so the message languishes.
Setting up organizational systems for passwords all in one place. Developing targeted signature lines. Those are the important but nonurgent tasks that are so easy to put on the back burner. Work at home moms are busy, and there always seem to be urgent things to do, like answering someone’s question or keeping up with the latest business development.
The key seems to be to prioritize not the things that are urgent only, but the things that are urgent AND important, as well as the important things that aren’t staring us in the face demanding to be done (like the urgent stuff is) but are still important nonetheless. This takes practice, and I’m still working on it! But I sure do know I feel like I move forward with far greater ease in the day to day experience of being a work at home mom when that important (yet nonurgent) stuff has been done.
Great food for thought from Steven Covey. I think a lot of work at home moms have repositioned their ladders in order to keep family priorities as well, priorities. And that repositioning can take great courage. I hope to be a source of encouragement for those women courageous (or stubborn!) enough to move their ladders.
I consider myself one of the stubborn ones. Professional degree notwithstanding, I just knew I wanted to be at home with my children when they were little. But I felt like a renegade – like an anomaly who others thought was settling for second-best. Man, I wish I had been encouraged to ask these questions, to go through this process. Not because I put my ladder against the wrong wall, really. But because I thought the wall I chose was second-rate.
Having chosen to remain a work at home mom even when my children are not so little, I now know this is a fantastic wall and I’m blessed to have my ladder here!
Sometimes, moms embrace working at home because they want a home-based business. They are looking for a venue for professional nonmom skills, but do not want, for any number of reasons, a “traditional” career.
I think these moms are apt to evaluate a number of home-based business options and make a calculated decision to go into business. Have you or anyone you know come to be a work at home mom this way?
And sometimes, moms at home are looking for additional or alternative income streams, but don’t necessarily picture themselves as in the market for a “business”. This was me. I knew I needed to contribute to the family income while at home, and I was always attuned to ways to do that. Everything from clipping coupons to teaching a few beginner piano lessons. But I was NOT actively looking for a home-based business to enable me to be a work at home mom.
Maybe it was the fact that I WAS attuned to the possibility of income streams (or trickles, as the case may have been ). But when I sort of backed into my current home-based business as a means of achieving my goals of contributing to the family income and being at home, it was a grand fit! And it has been a solid income stream that does allow me to use my professional skills besides. Anybody else have this experience? Thank goodness for income streams!
Did you sort of fall into a career path by happenstance, luck, or even misfortune? I know so many women – friends, classmates, fellow professionals – who didn’t really set out to “be” what they are “be-ing” in their careers. This job offer came, that circumstance led down a certain path, or they just happened to be in the right place (or some may say the wrong place!) at the right time.
Sometimes those kinds of circumstances have very happy endings. In my case, I did not actually set out to be a long-time work at home mom, but my interest in the product line of my company created a natural inlet into a fabulous home-based business opportunity. And once there, I realized what a terrific fit it was for me and my family.
But not all such stories have a happy ending. Like the underemployed college grads so common today.
So for those women whose careers have evolved into less than ideal fits, I would like to share the insight of Stephen Covey:
The work at home mom starting her own business will probably need to make computer software decisions to go along with the decisions about which type of computer to use (laptop or desktop), as well as how much to expect to have to spend on that equipment.
Microsoft Office is a common choice and might come pre-installed on a new PC or can be purchased separately (though it does tend to be somewhat expensive). There are various versions of Microsoft Office, so one does need to check carefully to be sure all the desired functionality is on the version selected.
Most versions have basic capabilities like Word (for document preparation and word processing), Excel (a spreadsheet for data organization) and PowerPoint (to create presentations). You may want a version that also offers Outlook, for e-mail organization, a calendar and task lists; and/or Business Contact Manager, to, well, manage business contacts. I use a version with both of these more advanced features as part of my “back office” and have found them very helpful in organizing information and keeping abreast of business activity.
In lieu of Microsoft Office, there are also free alternatives to many of these features, such as:
• OpenOffice.org for word processing and spreadsheets
• Google Calendar
• Gmail.com for email and tasks (and basic contact management; and I do mean basic even though it has been recently upgraded)
I don’t have a great deal of personal experience with these applications, but I know they do work well for some work at home moms. The level of functionality is not as advanced, of course, yet they may provide good, budget-friendly software platforms for starting your home-based business.
What’s a bachelor’s degree worth these days? I’m not talking about the cost to obtain it. I’m talking about the credentials it affords in establishing a secure career. It’s become more common than ever. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, in the fall of 2009, 70 percent of high school graduates began pursuing the degree at college. But that common pursuit of a bachelor’s degree does not seem to be because it affords job security upon completion.
In fact, there is a lot of talk these days about the difficulties in getting a job even with a graduate degree! The number of people with advanced degrees is increasing, too, and yet they’re no guarantee of financial security in the corporate world. Some twenty-somethings have had to cobble together a number of part-time jobs in order to pay back student loans and make ends meet. Others have yet to obtain independent living quarters. I read a “lifestyles” newspaper account earlier this summer of a 29 year old with a master’s degree in forensic psychology making ends meet as a nanny and waitress.
Now, if that’s the intended choice of a 29 year old with a master’s degree, then I am all for that. Those can be satisfying, engaging jobs. But if that situation is by default, I wonder about the possibility of a home-based business for those individuals as a way to use their professional skills without having to convince someone to hire them. Just like we work at home moms want an outlet for our professional skills without having to punch the corporate time clock, this option seems like a no-brainer for the underemployed college grad as well.
A local newspaper columnist posed the question in last Sunday’s paper: “What’s your ideal boss?”
The answer popped into my head immediately: I’m the ideal boss for me! Call it my independent streak, chalk it up to stubbornness, or maybe just recognize that this is the truth for any entrepreneurial type…being my own boss is incredibly appealing and one of the reasons I love being a work at home mom with a home-based business.
The qualities of a good boss identified by this article included excitement about and knowledge of the business in question, and interest in plus the ability to motivate employees. The columnist concluded that aside from these basics, what makes a good boss depends largely on the individual employee.
Well, I’m definitely excited about my business and nobody knows it better than me. I’m very interested in me (my so-called employee) and I’m fairly good at motivating myself. Yep, I meet the criteria!
What do you think? What’s your ideal boss…and are you it?!
Subscribe to feed