Some days you just can’t bring yourself to write one more serious, seo optimized blog post. And today is one of those days!
I’ve been working different home based businesses since I had my first baby 14 and a half years ago. I know a thing or two about the work from home scene. So for all my work at home-forget to put on deodorant- may or may not be wearing a bra- but always loving life home based business owners, here’s my 10 secrets about what happens behind the scenes:
Our head shots make it look like we are at the top of our professional game, but let’s be honest, if you saw us on the streets you might not even recognize us. We are all grateful for hair, makeup, great lighting and a little photo shop doesn’t hurt either. Oh yeah, and we also got dressed for the photo shoot. That helps too.- We’ve all pretended not to be home when someone stopped by. Working from home is legit people! Just because we are here, doesn’t mean we are available!
- We’ve all used work as an excuse when we really just didn’t want to do it. The mysteries of working from home are so strong to the 9-5 crowd that it’s a viable excuse. “Why no, I am not available to watch your toddler while you go out to lunch with the girls. I’ve got a meeting.” What we don’t say is, “I’ve got a meeting with myself, to discuss very important things, like the same stuff I do every day.”
- Most days are pretty normal, but then… you get “those days” where you are booked so solid you look at the calendar with it’s back to back, color coded, boxes and you just know it. Today will be one of those days where I wait until my client is on a good long rant, and I’ll mute myself so I can actually go pee. It happens to the best of us.
- A fancy day might still include yoga pants, pj bottoms, or shorts. If it’s a video meeting, sure you might see us with a shirt and tie, or a sharp button down blouse. But that doesn’t mean the attire goes all the way down. We have all mastered the art of sliding the camera away so we can get up without exposing the truth should we need to grab something.
- Speaking of video, did you know we have one or two corners of the house that are always video ready, but you have no idea what the rest of the room looks like. During Christmas my office turns into a present wrapping, box stacking, nightmare. But in my webinar corner, all looks good and normal!
- There are different breeds of home based business owners. There are the ones that rarely ever work with any consistency, but talk like they are always on the verge of being a millionaire. Then you’ve got the breed that do work, but also sneak out in the middle of the day to go to a movie because, why not? The crowds are small and they can always finish their work that night. And then you have the breed of business owner that works with the same hours and intensity that they would if they drove to the office every day.
- Regardless of the breed of home based business owner, we all think you are crazy for showering, getting dressed up, and driving in commute traffic every day. Yuck! We secretly think we’d rather die than go back to that morning grind!
- Sometimes it gets lonely trying to run the world from home with no one to bounce ideas off of. Google and youtube, can teach us just about anything we need to know. But they are not the best at empathizing or connecting. Sometimes we get starved for people!
- We know the rest of the world wonders if we have a fake job. And we love this lifestyle so much we don’t even care! Keep thinking we are just playing. And some of the times you’ll be right! But the rest of the time, we are hustling, and after the first year, we don’t even care if you get that!
So to all my home based business owners, keep doing your thing! Pants and traffic are overrated anyway!