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Part III: Working From Home - Family Dynamics
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While you're still in the 'wondering if you should work from home' phase, here's something else to consider. Working from home will change the family dynamics. This could be either good or bad depending on your viewpoint and your current family situation.
While your future business plan is formulating in your head, giving consideration to the change in family dynamics are just as important, if not more so. Below is a list of items that you should consider and discuss with your family during your planning stage:
- Family support (especially a spouse): Have a family meeting. Let everyone in the family know what you're doing/thinking of doing. If you can, solicit their help and get them involved. Children love to feel involved. Depending on the type of business, they can help by stuffing envelopes, spreading the word or even retrieving the mail from the mailbox. Help can also mean picking up around the house, dusting, vacuuming or emptying the dishwasher as needed. Bottom line communication is key
A supportive spouse can make the transition easier. Let's face it, this is a big decision. You are probably experiencing fear, excitement, wonder and self doubt. These emotions are natural and expected when making a major life change. Your spouse can help to quell the negative thoughts of fear and self doubt and maybe think of things pertinent to your venture that you didn't think of. There is something to the saying 'United we stand, divided we fall.' Once your family is on board the transition will seem more like an adventure rather than an uphill struggle.
- Respect: Your friends and family will have to learn to respect the fact that you are working from home. Stopping by unannounced to have a cup of coffee and dish the dirt will have to be modified. Your friends should know your 'work hours' and visit you accordingly. As your schedule allows, you can set appointments throughout the week for dirt dishing, as long as you remember that you have to control your time, not your friends. If you respect your time, then others will too.
- Boundaries: Along with respect comes boundaries. Especially in the beginning, you'll have to set both internal and external boundaries.
- Internal: Working from home you will see everything that needs to be done around the house. When you worked out of the house, the unpainted kitchen might have whispered your name, but you were too far away to hear it. However, working from home leaves you within earshot of your unpainted walls. The walls and all other household projects will continue to call and tempt you into fixing what needs to be fixed. Don't give in. Just like your business associates, your unpainted walls will have to make an appointment. Fit them into your schedule when you see fit
Plan your day and set your boundaries.
- External: Your family will have to realize that even though you are home, you may not be acting in your 'home' capacity. Your family may not be accustomed to sharing you with your job. Previously, when you came home from work, you were home and 100% accessible to them. You were not fielding work calls or pulling up client accounts on the computer. You will have to make your family understand that although you no longer commute, you still work. It may take a little time and some trial and error, but your family will have to understand the work/home boundaries. Of course, these boundaries are invisible to very young children which leads to the issue of child care.
- Child Care: Think for a moment of the last household project you accomplished (or tried to accomplish) with your children around. Whether it was painting the living room, fixing a car, preparing dinner for guests or even having a phone conversation. How did it go?
Now think of what it could be like on a daily basis attempting to complete projects for paying clients. Do you think you might need child care assistance? Remember, this is your business and the decision is up to you.
You might need a part-time baby sitter to help for half of the day, or you might be able to set up play dates that will occupy your children. If you are currently commuting and your children are in child care now, you might want to keep that arrangement for a little while until you truly understand the demands of your venture.
If your work is part-time, maybe you can arrange your work hours around nap time or bed time. What you do not want to do is become frustrated with your children because you are unable to meet your work deadlines. Remember, your working from home should be positive for the family, not a source of strife.
- Place to call 'Office': Depending on your business, you'll need a place to call your office. It could be the left side of your dining room table, or a separate room in the house. Where ever you decide, remember, it is your office. No one should be rummaging through your area. When you've 'commuted' to your office, everyone should know that you are at work.
Your office should contain the tools of your trade. For those of you who are currently commuting, the office you're commuting to is equipped with certain tools. You should try to duplicate those tools at home so that you will be able to adequately and efficiently perform your work tasks.
Not everyone can afford to fully stock a home office right off the bat. Initially, you might have to share tools with your family, but as your business grows, I strongly suggest that you get your own equipment and supplies. You would hate to have your son accidentally delete your business files from your computer while working on his school project.
- Office Hours: When determining your office hours, ask yourself these questions:
- When am I the most productive?
- When are the best hours for my clients?
- Are my clients local or is there a time difference?
- Are my children in school all day?
- Am I a morning person?
- Do I function better at night?
If you're a morning person, you might want to get up a little earlier before the hustle and bustle of your household is in full swing to get an hour or so of work accomplished. If your children are at school, that is a prime time to get things done. If you're a night person, you might stay up later after the dinner hour after the kiddies are in bed and burn the midnight oil. It's your business, you get to decide.
- Household Chores: One of the blessings/curses of working at home is that it makes it easier to do household chores. You can put a load of clothes in the wash and still write an article. When you break for lunch, you can, if you choose, pull some weeds from the garden. A roast can cook in the oven while you put the finishing touches on a craft you were making. This is all well and good, but don't get too caught up in chores.
One thing I've discovered: Housework never goes anywhere, and neither will your business if you spend too much time doing housework.
Many times the person that is working from home is 'expected' to do more than their share of household chores because "they are home anyway". Again, this is something to discuss with your family in the beginning. Yes, you may be able to handle a few more chores because you are home, but unless your venture is a domestic cleaning service, you should not spend your entire day doing household chores.
- Down Time: A common problem with home offices is that there is a tendency to work too much. Sometimes it's hard to find the right balance. You may feel a need to prove to everyone that you are actually working and accomplishing something or, you may be so passionate about your work that you have a hard time turning off. Remember, a healthy person is a balanced person. A healthy person has a happier family (Read Jenna Glatzer's article on this topic - Home Office Productivity).
- At-Home Parent Warning: If you are already an at-home mom or dad, starting a home business might prove to be even more difficult for you than your commuting counterpart. As much as at-home parents are respected, loved and appreciated, your family is used to you in your current capacity. You've set a behavior, responsibility precedent. You've been cooking, washing, cleaning, chauffeuring, shopping, mending, etc. doing all of the things that it takes to run a household (a full time job). Many times when branching out to start a business, the family's expectation is that you will continue your full time household job and work your new business. Depending on your family, it may take some time for your business to be taken seriously. Which brings me back to the first item in this list; family support is very important.
Lets see, we've come up with the thought to work from home, we've discussed whether or not we have the 'work from home personality' and we've discussed how working from home may change the family dynamics. Now it's time to see just how much money you need to make in order to make this work.
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This document last modified Sunday, 02-Mar-2008 08:18:27 EST
 ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Felicia A. Williams is a freelance writer and webmaster of this website, Visit Hudson Valley.com and No Job for Mom.com. She also blogs about Living Green one choice at a time.
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