After 9 months of working from home, the one question I get repeatedly from friends and customers is: So how do you like working from home?
On one hand, how could I NOT enjoy the freedom that comes from setting my own schedule, and let’s be honest– some days sitting at the computer in my pj’s, drinking coffee and petting the cat that likes to sneak onto my desk, all while not dealing with moody coworkers or anyone else’s Spotify playlists is pretty ideal. Obvious bonuses right there. But there is also a flip side.
While rolling out of bed and settling in at the computer without worrying about brushing my hair might sound enticing, there are also obvious drawbacks. Some days I realize I’ve been so engrossed in my work that I haven’t showered or even left the house by mid-afternoon. Other days I wonder what will happen to my business if the phone doesn’t keep ringing, or emails don’t keep coming in. How will I pay my bills? What will I do for work instead? Could I get a job somewhere else after being my own boss for 12 years?
When you work for yourself, simply put, you have to hustle. If I want business, I have to actively seek it out. I no longer have a storefront where people can wander in at their leisure, maybe buying something, maybe just striking up a conversation about “what all it is that I do here” and filing it away for future reference. When you work for yourself, particularly at home, you have to be constantly hungry for potential business. You have to stay open-minded. You need to be accommodating and flexible. And, last but not least, you have to remember to find balance amidst the hustle.
The first few months of working from my new home studio were challenging for one reason: I struggled to find that critical balance between how much time I spent working versus doing anything else. If you talk to other people who have experienced the “joys of working from home,” many of them say the same thing: I actually worked more when I worked from home.
The thing is, you have to learn when to turn it off. I had a hard time NOT working constantly in those first few months. If something needed to be done, I felt like I should be doing it, regardless of what else was on my list (cleaning, grocery shopping, interacting with my family, or even just reading a book because hey, you shouldn’t work all the time). But I truly felt guilty for doing anything other than work, or for not answering the phone or emails after 5 p.m.–I felt like I was supposed to be available to my customers. All. The. Time.
What I didn’t realize was that without those natural boundaries that exist by physically leaving the house and going to a job outside of the home, I had to be willing (and able) to set them for myself. The pace at which I was going wasn’t sustainable and other important aspects of my life would begin to suffer if I didn’t make some changes to my routine.
At first, I tried setting a schedule for myself every day, like a “normal job.” It helped in some ways, but it also wasn’t realistic because not every day is the same. Some days there is more to do, others less. After a lot of trial and error (and finally giving myself permission to not feel guilty if it was 1 p.m. on a Tuesday and I was mowing the grass), I finally figured out a few keys to successfully working from home and being happy doing so. {Disclaimer: just because these strategies work for me doesn’t mean they will for everyone–you have to find your own groove.} But in case it helps, here is what I’ve learned so far:
- Schedule wisely. Schedule appointments in clusters. This helped me create more structured blocks of studio time, which freed up other days for meetings outside the studio, proofing/printing orders, website work, or running personal errands. In short, I am learning to work smarter, not harder.
- Be focused. Focus first on what needs to be done today and do it. When the critical tasks are finished for the day, I reward myself by doing something I want to do (like mow the grass or search Pinterest for a new dinner recipe).
- Don’t neglect the website. Block aside entire days here and there for mind-numbing web stuff. It’s tedious work, but once I get into my WordPress groove, hours fly by. I’ve learned it’s not a good idea for me to have anything else on my plate on those days. And you can’t underestimate the importance in maintaining a relevant online presence.
- Email doesn’t own you. Don’t check email a dozen times a day. A few times a day is absolutely reasonable. Any more than that and it becomes an obsessive habit.
- Stay flexible. Not everything goes according to plan, but when that happens, it’s rarely the end of the world. Whether it’s a customer who cancels or shows up late or a project that goes awry, take a deep breath and remember to adapt. Things will get done. Life will move on. We are all doing the best we can on any given day.
- Be open to new work. I’ve faced the hard fact that stationery isn’t what it once was, and that to stay in business, I need to be willing to flex and evolve, which means taking on new types of work, including copywriting and editing, web-based work, and a lot more design and marketing projects. Try viewing it as an opportunity to learn, grow, and become more diverse in your skill set.
- Balance is 100% vital to both happiness and success. Period.
Learning to work from home is an ongoing process, and it’s not for everyone. As I’m adapting, I’m finally starting to exhale. Customers keep coming back, new work is steadily appearing, and I’m settling into a groove that works for me. I’m finally finding real harmony in all aspects of my life for the first time since I started this business in 2005– and that balance is its own best reward.