Top Three Difficulties Of Working From Home
While working from home brings benefits like family time, sometimes these very benefits can turn into difficulties.
Here is a list of the top three difficulties faced by home entrepreneurs:
1. Work-Life Balance
While your work-from-home idea stemmed from your desire to balance your work and family life, working from home can tilt the balance completely towards family obligations.2. Lack of Workspace
Working from home allows you to create your own comfort zone. If you have a big house, you can easily designate one room to be your workplace. If there are bigger kids, you can easily keep this room out of bounds by locking it.3. Not Being Taken Seriously
Working from home gives you the freedom to interact with people you choose. However, a home business would not instill the kind of confidence that an organization in the same business inspires.Photo by Ben McLeod.
Jaclyn on March 11th, 2009 11:13 am
While i haven’t encountered the last problem since i have been working from home…i do encounter the first two of them all the time. it’s hard to designate a space that is meant just for work and it’s even harder to balance your work life from your personal home life. everyone assumes they can stop by and visit or call and chat or family that you live with assume they can come talk to you whenever because you do work from home.
John MacIntyre on March 11th, 2009 11:41 am
“working from home can tilt the balance completely towards family..” – Ironically, I find I get tilted towards work. I find work time frequently interupted, causing me to work into the evening and night, after a while I feel guilty any time I’m not working. I found it very difficult to get my head around.
GoEverywhere Team on March 11th, 2009 11:59 am
These definitely are the top difficulties of working from home! Having a dedicated space is so important, but so is having access to all of your online documents while on the run at a presentation or meeting with a client. GoEverywhere offers a personal online webtop that offers WAM professionals a place to store their documents and files – AND logon to all of their websites, email clients, and software – with just one login.
Ken Tameling on March 13th, 2009 3:03 pm
Good point about lack of space hindering productivity at home. If you’ve got a small space, go in with the mindset of making it a “great small space” that isn’t confining, but efficient. Buy a great chair that works well whether working in an upright or reclined posture, and consider a height-adjustable table so you can stand for part of your day, which will help keep you energized and refreshed. Try squeezing in some walking as well, whether it’s while you’re on the phone, or just taking a break to reenergize. It’s now also possible to have the option of walking while you work with a Sit to Walkstation. Your space might be small, but it can be one that’s highly efficient, keeps you energized and be a place that you love to work in!
Ken Tameling
Seating General Manager
Steelcase, Inc.
Michael Cousin on March 13th, 2009 3:34 pm
I always see people in our organization telling new guys that you have to set things up for these three problems. The third isn’t too much of a problem since you usually take advertising to the client, but making sure you have a work area and making sure you actually spend time working are the biggest things to watch out for. You’re not going to make money sitting on the couch eating chips!
Laurie Neumann on March 18th, 2009 1:28 pm
You are right that working from home is not all rosy. You need to consider the reality of it all when trying to decide if this is for you or not.
The point I identify with the most is that people don’t take you seriously. They think you are kind of “play-working.” Of course, after homeschooling for ten years, I’m used to it:-)
Even though it can be frustrating, I wouldn’t trade it. I love being able to work from home.
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