At first it sounds wonderful to work from home, and yes, there are many advantages. For instance, I'm here when my daughter comes home from school and available to get her if she's ill without getting into trouble with the boss. :) I like that one. ;)
That said, I am finding that there are more cons than pros to working from home. It is very difficult to turn on and off the 'work mode' that you need to be in. I particularly find it hard to turn off in the evenings and am constantly drawn back to the laptop to answer a few emails etc. It also works the other as well, during the the daytime I'm also juggling the housework. I'll go to the kitchen to make a cuppa (as afterall everyone is entitled to coffee breaks during the day) and while I'm there waiting for the kettle to boil I'll sort the breakfast dishes or think it's a good idea to quickly mop the floors. Once I've finished I then need to boil the kettle again!!
I also do a lot of my work on my dining table as that's the only place where I can easily clean up my craft mess. (Hard table and hardwood floors, so wipe-able.) My dining room is also where all the laundry gets sorted not to mention meal times. In this house I'm strict about eating as a family at the table. So really the dining room is any everything room in this house. I spend more time clearing my dining room between different activities than anything else. More of that in another blog I think, if I remember.
Back to my main reason for starting this post, my partner Mr Ty Siriol. Well, last week he went and severed his finger. Ouch! He's ok and thankfully after reattaching it it looks like they've saved it. Of course, this means that he will be off work for some time and that he needs a fair bit of help doing the most basic of things. Firstly, I certainly don't begrudge him. Afterall, it was an accident. Who in there right mind would deliberately cut off their finger? It is very lucky that I do work from home so that I am able to take time off work to go to the hospital with him and take him back and forth for appointments. Again, I have a very compassionate boss! Also, now that he's home from hospital I am around most of the time to help him. He can't open his tablets one handed for example and I would never allow someone to be stuck in a position where they are in lots of pain and can't get their painkillers out of those ridiculous blister packs. Then there are the more mundane things like cooking meals and helping him bathe etc. Yes, it's boring but for now he does need some help. Try cooking a meal with your arm in a sling and see how dependent you are on having 2 hands. It's amazing. So all these reasons mean that it's a good thing I'm home in the day.
On to the downside. If I don't make sales I don't get paid. That means that I have to have stock and be able to work on custom pieces. I also need to keep in touch with my wonderful customers and do my networking and marketing. There is a lot more to working for yourself than might appear. I'm a one-woman-band business and there's no one to step in to help. I'm craftsperson, photographer, photo-editor, web manager, marketing manager, customer liaison, accountant, dispatch not to mention cleaner and post run. (My skills set is widening though.) So with all these positions to fill things have slowed down somewhat. New stock has stopped being made at the moment so I can focus on the rest and it will probably stay this way for several weeks. I am considering showing Mr TS the web side of things though so he can make himself useful. It'll be slow but he can type one handed. When I mentioned it he didn't seem phased so that's a good sign. In fact he's always been very supportive so I'm not surprised.
So for now things are going to be a bit unsettled and I accept that. I'm thankful that it's a quieter time of year though. My number one job will always be mother and partner but that wouldn't be any different even if I went out to work for someone else. I love my family and they will always come first.
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