Working at Home: the Good, the Bad & the Ugly

The good:

Working from home is exactly as awesome as I always imagined it would be. I love not having a commute, and folding laundry during my lunch break is oddly rewarding. It has also been really convenient in regards to home repairs, because after that huge hail storm came through in May, we had all manner of appointments to keep that required someone be around during the day, which would previously have been an enormous pain in the hindquarters (I tried to write “tukus”, but couldn’t determine the appropriate spelling).

Business itself is actually going really well. I have grown every month thus far, and am in the midst of a very exciting season known as “wedding season” which means my days are full of pretty designs and inspirational ideas. And the occasional pot of caffeine.

Having a flexible work schedule is serving me particularly well this summer, as things have been alarmingly busy in the way of travel/events, and I find myself spending more time out of the office on Fridays than I ever thought humanly possible. Being able to hop in the car and head to Arkansas without asking for permission for anyone but the smartest (and the BHO) is pretty rad.

The bad:

While working from home is totally awesome, there are definitely some drawbacks. For example- I get very tempted to work over the weekends. And by “get tempted” I mean that I usually do work a bit over the weekends- just because weekends are a busy time and nothing is quite as disappointing as having to wait for a response until Monday morning, particularly when you are a week away from your wedding and pulling your hair out in the 2 hours of sleep you get each night.   

There is this really weird misconception regarding working at home. People generally fall into 2 camps of thinking on this subject: the “you don’t work” camp and the “oh good, so you’re free” camp. The first camp perpetually says things like “well, since you aren’t working…”, which is sort of incredibly offensive. I know that I am 100% blessed to be doing something that I love… but that thing isn’t actually “sitting on the couch and eating chocolate all day” so much as “working with frantic brides-to-be and bending over backwards to build a stellar reputation in the wedding community”. I understand how people could get those confused, they do sound quite a bit alike, but I make no promises to withhold my pent up throat punch if you mistakenly utter these words. 

The ugly:

There is a certain amount of brain block that comes from a lack of human contact. Something about working a job that you don’t 100% loves tends to lead you to think thoughts about creative things you would do if you had time.  Sometimes those thoughts sort of run away from time when you do have it, which leads to lots of frustrated house cleaning, which inevitably leads to getting a great idea in the shower, which is where all the good ideas hide I am reasonably certain.