Working From Home

By Allison Berman
August 5, 2008

Run a google search for the phrase "work from home" and in .25 seconds you will have 287,000,000 sites to choose from. More and more, people are deciding to work from home for a variety of reasons. No boss looking over your shoulder, work in your pajamas, no commute. A reason that resonates with me and other young parents...you can be home with your children, earn some money and you get to maintain the intellectual stimulation that many stay at home parents miss.

I decided to start my own business, but even if you are not the entrepreneurial type, there are lots of options including phone sales or telemarketing. There is also the growing trend of what I call "purchase parties" which is basically an updated version of Tupperware parties. A friend hosts a cocktail party for you, and invites women you normally wouldn't have access to, to a "ladies night out" where you will be selling X. It could be jewelry by Lia Sophia, Pampered Chef products or designer jeans that fell off a truck somewhere.

There are so many people choosing to work from home that there is actually a Work At Home Moms movement called WAHM. They have a website with ideas of things you can do from home during the day-if kids are at school. And if you have little ones- there are things that you can do at night when your children are sleeping. WAHM entrepreneurs are able to join "support group" websites where they can promote their products, and of course support the other WAHM businesses.

There are wonderful advantages to being a WAHM, the only challenge is that you're pretty much always working. There is a professional hat, mom hat, and homemaker hat. When you are trying to get ready for company -cleaning the house and preparing food AND you have something for your paid job that needs to get done AND the kid's nap doesn't work remember this. If they were actual hats that you were putting on your head, you wouldn't pile one on top of another. So, take a deep breath...Enlist you kids help. A three your old can dust with a baby wipe, or a fold a pile of napkins. (There are plenty of jobs for kids. Email me if you need some ideas.) Whew, that's one hat off. Now for the 2^nd hat, determine if your professional hat can wait so you can make a home cooked meal, or if you are on a deadline order in food. Nobody will care, and your house will just look lived in.

The key to working at home is to remember even if you can take care of the children, and home, and your professional job, you can’t do all of them at the same time. It's just like I tell my 4 1/2 year old. You have to slow down, focus, and do one thing at a time.

Allison Berman, an artist and mother of two, handpaints custom home accessories for interior designers and private customers. She works out of her home studio in Warwick, NY. See her collection at www.withlovealib.com. She can be reached at ali@withlovealib.com. Her column appears Tuesdays.