Busy Work at Home Mom

When a Mom makes the decision to start a small business or work from home, she may turn to the search engines to find ideas.  While there is no other resource that can provide as much information about working from home and internet businesses, there is also no greater confusion.

If you search for ‘work at home’ on Google or any other search engine, the vast majority of the results will be come-ons for programs that promise the moon and stars, if only you pay them $29.95 or more.    Many people waste a lot of time and money trying out these programs and opportunities and never really make any money at all.

In between all the home businesses that cost an upfront fee, there is some real quality information about working from home.   Don’t pay any money yet.  If you look hard enough, you never have to pay for the best information about working at home online.

So, how do you decide what type of business to undertake?

The first step is figuring out what you enjoy and what you want to do.  Any preference can be made into a work at home job.  Do you like crafts? Parenting? Finance? Art? Sports? Pets?  Any subject can create income for you.

Once you have picked a topic to create a business about, you have to learn how to make money with it.  In order to work at home successfully, you always have to sell something: either a product or service.  The next step is knowledge.

Visiting work at home and small business forums is an excellent way to learn everything you need to know about working from home.  Experienced self-employed professionals are on hand to answer questions and post articles about what they’ve learned.  Instead of fumbling out and making the same mistakes everyone else has, fast forward through them by reading about other’s mistakes first.  It will save you a lot of time, money, and frustration.

My living room floor looks like a very small, very colorful city exploded all over it. Mini-figure body parts lay still amid the remains of garages, spaceships, and strange robots. It’s hard to tell who was the attacker and who was the defender.

What I do know is that, for the last half hour, my sons left me blissfully alone while I hurried to finish three articles before they needed me again. I did have to put up with loud explosions, crashing noises, and a running commentary about… something.

A work at home mom’s secret weapon is selective listening. If I let every make-believe speech enter my brain, I would never get anything done.

I struggled for a long time with the concept of being a professional. To me, a professional was a person in a suit with a briefcase and an ulcer. I work at home full time, and make a living at it. I’m not an amateur in the home business realm, so I must be a professional.

Another explosion sounds from the living room, and my younger son lets out a cry of distress. His brother has just attacked his Lego house with an alien ship.

Feverishly typing the last line of my current article, I get up from my desk chair, the invisible robe of professionalism slipping away with ease. By the time I reach the next room, I am all parent, and ready for the federation counterstrike against the encroaching hoard from Mars.

Juggling parenting and professionalism requires practice, dedication, and a healthy dose of craziness.

Sometimes the whole rush and scurry - and especially all the “Just a minute, honey. I have to finish this first.” - doesn’t seem worth it.  The daily balancing act of house and health and work and family is tiring.  So tiring!  And sometime I want to give up, put my kids in public school, get a ‘normal’ job, and be like the majority of families around here.

But then I stop to think and take some deep breaths.

I would hate it.  I would hate not being able to learn and grow with my children every day.  I would hate having to get up early, put on uncomfortable clothes, and brave the idiots on the road to get to a job I dislike.

Being a work at home Mom is tough.  But I couldn’t imagine life any other way.

My work at home or self-employed career started after my divorce.  With two boys under 18 months old, I refused to ship them off to a daycare and get some low-paying job that would ruin any time or energy I had to enjoy them.

Other work at home Moms often tell me they had the same feelings.  One of the biggest reasons for becoming self-employed at home is being able to stay with children.

Am I busy?  Do I go crazy sometimes?  Do I have moments of despair?

Oh yes!  But what person doesn’t?

As a self-employed, homeschooling, divorced Mom to two boys - one autistic - I think I’m entitled to a bit of crazy at times.

After the crazy, I dust myself off, take a deep breath, and get right back into the BEST job anyone could ever have in the world: a busy, work at home Mom.