It's not always easy working from home. Being a full-time mum and working around that from an office in the back garden is not all its cracked up to be.
Of course, there are many benefits. My kids have had me home all the time and I have been able to make sure I am always available. Summer holidays, Christmas, Easter, Midterms, sick days. Whatever the weather, whatever the day, mum is home. I never have to worry about the logistics of childcare or the cost.
For my kids this is awesome, but for me, well it can be very isolating. Ten years I have been doing this now. Very often the only people I see for the day are the kids. When the kids have school, I drop them, come home and work, collect them from school, homework, dinners, activities, bed for the kids, do a little more work and then bed for me.
I often feel lonely and I miss the buzz of an office. People to talk with and a different environment. I miss having people there for a morning cuppa tea. I miss the feeling of adding value and being part of something and I miss the respect and the gratitude that you just don’t get from kids for all the stuff you do.
I was always rather lucky with work. I am a CPA accountant by profession, and I worked my way up the corporate ladder rather quickly. I always had great jobs, for great organizations that paid well, had a good culture and fantastic benefits. I know many people don’t feel valued in work, but that was never the case for me. I always seemed to get ad hog bonuses and well there is only so high you can climb before a company just can’t promote you anymore. 😊
Although I have been working for myself for 10 years, I did also work part-time for 4 years. But the last 4 years I have been at home and I think its time for a change.
The school holidays end in 3 weeks. My youngest moves from infant classes which end at 1:30 to 1st class. This change gives me an extra hour every day and she will now finish at the same time as my son which is 2:30. That hour makes a big difference if you want to work part-time and get back for the school collections. The only problem with a part-time job is the actual amount of time the kids are not in school and getting a childminder for those periods.
So, I am going to look for a job. And I am feeling rather excited. Do you think I will land on my feet? I always did before and I bet I will again 😊 Id love like a week a month full time rather than working part-time. That would only make me quarter-time lol but sounds like fun. I still have plenty of contacts as I work closely with Accounting bodies and organizations anyway. So it's not like I closed the doors behind me on the way out!
What awesome too is that I can run my business efficiently with the time I have left, but won't be taking so many months break each year as I won't have the time to work so far head. Working more and more from my brand account here on steem, I could also just reduce the time I spend on this personal account and I might still be able to work ahead on my branded stuff. Exciting times ahead.