Work at Home Mom

I’ll bet there are a lot of moms in the corporate world who like the challenge of their professional setting. And the interaction with other stimulating people. But I bet some of those moms wish they could work at home. For many, many reasons. And yet…there are probably many questions running through the minds of those hard working moms as they consider the possibility. Without the challenge and stimulation of the workplace, one of those questions, simply put, might be: would I go nuts being at home all the time?

Maybe not the most academic of the many questions to consider, but a valid one nonetheless. Only the mom in question can answer that for herself, but here are some personal thoughts that might be helpful to her (or you!).

Having a home-based business means melding various activity fronts within a smaller area. You’re doing mothering, homemaking, and business all from home (plus lots of other stuff most likely). My own experience is that this actually can provide even more stimulation and invigorating activity on all those fronts. They can be balanced more creatively, juxtaposed more easily, and sometimes combined with greater originality. Examples: supper is in the oven as I write this, we have family “mailing parties” for some snail mail customer contact in my business, my teens give me some great internet business advice, and I can sneak in a customer follow-up call right after answering that ever-present question, “can I have something to eat?”. You’re probably getting the picture. It’s sort of a way of life, and allows me to get more done in all three of those areas (mothering, homemaking and business) than I think would be possible if I weren’t working at home.

Now, having a work at home situation that does include some type of contact with other people does help. I’m on the phone almost every day in some business-related capacity. And definitely communicating via computer every single business day. As you evaluate home-based business options, you may want to consider something that offers that. Unless of course, you’re a loner by nature and the social element of the corporate life is your least favorite part to begin with. If that’s the case, perhaps you won’t miss it by making the transition to at-home work.

And it may be that the work at home mom needs to pay particular attention to her non-work social/emotional/spiritual/physical needs that take her outside the home if that is what she likes. But most work at home moms I know really like being at home, and being at home a lot. If you’ve never had the luxury of trying it, it may not seem appealing at first. But I think it will grow on you .