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August 11, 2005
Being Taken Advantage of...
When working at home, one of the hard things to do is to make it clear to others that you are actually working. This can be extremely frustrating while you are attempting to keep on task and get work done.
I know many work at home moms who let themselves get taken advantage of by people wanting them to drop what they are doing and come to the need of their problem or come "play" just on a whim. Whether it be watching their kids, driving them to a destination or even just wanting to run to shop or have lunch. This is when a work at home mom needs to put her foot down, if she is serious about tyring to take care of her business and being a real business owner.
| Don't get me wrong, working
at home DOES give you flexibility, and that is one of the perks. But you
also need to have the discipline to be able to follow through and commit
to your own goals and have the commitment to your business. Not everyone
CAN work at home. Some people have a really hard time being able to stay
focused and keeping on top of the deadlines they have created for
themselves.
There have been many times that I have had to do this with people, and over a period of time, they have "gotten" it. If someone calls and wants to take 3 hours to go shopping that day, most likely I can't. |
But that doesn't mean I can't the following
week. Being able to plan ahead with people, and getting them to understand that
you need to plan ahead, causes less stress and misunderstandings.
If you are a work at home mom who is being serious about working at home and
needing that income flow, then you may need to regroup and let the people in
your life know that they need to understand that you are "at your job" during
certain hours of the day. Let them know that while you'd love to be able to drop
and run, sometimes you just can't. Just think of it, if you were working in a
regular job, would these same people call you there and expect you can just
leave or come to their aid anytime you wanted to? No, they wouldn't think that,
and work at home moms sometimes need to retrain their own thought process along
with gently retraining those in their lives and letting them know that they have
a schedule that they need to stick to.
Posted by Cyndi at August 11, 2005 09:52 AM
Comments
Cyndi - I know exactly what you are talking about!
Not only do friends not understand why you can't drop everything and just go somewhere, but I've also found that people you work with don't always understand why you aren't available 24 hours a day. Sure, I'm at home, but it doesn't always mean I'm working. :)
It's a difficult concept for all parties involved. One thing I'm working on doing is trying to create more uniform "working" hours, because that will also help me personally get better at walking away at the end of my day. The better I can define for myself what business hours are, the better I can set limits for others wanting my time. At least that is what I am hoping for! LOL
Posted by: amy at August 11, 2005 01:39 PM
