Faith and Business 101: Pros and Cons of Being a WAHM
As you might expect, there are a tremendous number of benefits to being a work at home mom. The benefits and challenges depend largely on the opportunity you choose to pursue. However, below are several general pros and cons that are mostly universal to being a Work at Home Mom…
Benefits of Being a WAHM
Being Your Own Boss
When you’re a work at home mom, you get to make the rules. You decide if today is a work day. You decide if you get to take an extra long lunch. You also decide what your financial and career goals are. You choose the projects you work on – and the projects you outsource to others.
You choose the who, what, where, when and why. It’s very empowering. It can also be quite stressful! Don’t worry. The time management, organization and balance tips provided later in this report will help you manage the challenge with grace and ease.
Flexibility
You likely already know that as a mom you need to be flexible. Your day rarely goes as you expect it too. On the day of a big presentation or when you’ve made exciting plans a child is sure to throw up or run a fever. Children demand flexibility but a traditional 9-5 rarely provides it.
When you work from home you have the flexibility to care for your children on those surprise days. You can also choose when to work and when to focus on your family. You can work during nap time, early mornings, nights, when the kids are at school or you can even hire a part-time babysitter or swap childcare with a friend. The point is you have the flexibility to work based on your own needs and goals.
Great Income Potential
When you are a work at home mom you have the ability to choose your income goals. You also choose the path you take to achieve them. This means you’re not bound by salary caps, a glass ceiling or any other limitations. You can choose how much money you want to make and set your goals and plans to achieve it.
Sense of Community
It might surprise you to learn that there’s a very large and quite energetic community of work at home moms. They’re excited to share, learn and connect with other work at home moms.
So if you’re concerned about feeling isolated or letting go of your work associates don’t be. There are many fantastic resources to connect with other work at home parents. Together you can support each other to grow, prosper, and succeed!
Pride and Accomplishment
Working at home gives you the “I really can have my cake and eat it too” sense of pride and accomplishment. You realize that you can create the life you want. It’s quite empowering. You also get to choose your path and follow it. When you achieve success, and you will, you’ll feel a great sense of achievement.
You’ll Save Money
This is another surprising benefit. When you work from home you no longer have to:
- Pay for gas for your daily commute
- Buy and maintain a work wardrobe
- Pay for lunch out (or breakfast out if you usually grab it on your way to the office.)
- New tax deductions too for your home office and business expenses.
You’ll be surprised how much money you save over the course of a year.
Quality of Life
Working from home means you’ll be there for your children when they need you. It also means you can maintain your home and your family the way you want to. You can cook meals rather than take out – if you choose. You can make time to exercise. You can tend to your children yourself rather than paying for childcare. And you can be there for them when they’re sick without feeling guilty or worried about your job security.
And if you’re already a stay at home parent then your quality of life will improve with the extra cash you have to take vacations and purchase items your family wants and needs.
Challenges of Being a WAHM
All is not perfect in the land of WAHM. To say it’s easy to work from home would be a lie. It can be very challenging at times. Your primary challenges will likely be…
Time Management
It takes skill, a plan and an ability to focus if you want to work at home successfully. As you already know, children are full of surprises. And the day you have a big meeting with a client or have plans to work on a new project for your business.
That will be the day your child stays home sick. Additionally, you’ll need to create a work schedule that supports you to be productive.
This can mean getting up early in the morning or staying up later at night. Sometimes trying to squeeze a few hours of work time into an already busy day can be a challenge. That being said, there are tips and strategies to help you make it – to help you manage your time successfully. We devote an entire section in this report to time management.
Cash Flow
This is a surprising challenge, right? Particularly if you’re already a stay at home parent. However, it can be a real challenge and if you don’t prepare for it, you can wind up short at the end of the month. Worse, you can end up in debt and no one wants that to happen.
If you’re leaving a traditional 9-5 make sure to create a budget that reflects your temporary loss of income. If you have savings to live on for a few months then that’s great. If not, make plans to cut back.
Starting a new business or transitioning into a work at home career like a home based call center or direct sales requires an investment so you’ll have that expense too. And it may take a few months to start seeing a profit. Be prepared for this. Look at your budget and crunch the numbers.
If you’re already a stay at home parent you can have cash flow challenges too. As mentioned, most work at home opportunities require some level of investment. We’ll talk about the various opportunities and what you need to get started next.
For now, know that there is an investment and you may not see a return on that investment right away. Plan for it and keep yourself out of debt.
Balance
Working at home is a bit of a juggling act. You want your career/business to succeed. You also want to take great care of your home and family. There are really only so many hours in a day and it’s impossible to devote all of your time and energy to both. You also need time for yourself.
Balance is probably the biggest challenge you’ll face. With good organization and time management, balance is possible. It’s a constant struggle that you’ll need to pay attention to however, with proper attention you’ll be able to work, tend to your family and take good care of yourself too. Again, we’ve devoted an entire section to this challenge.
Staying Motivated
In the beginning it’ll be easy to stay motivated. However, after a few months or a year of working from home you’re going to be tempted to procrastinate. It happens to everyone! The laundry chore will look better to you than working on your business. And distractions like the television or lunch with a friend will be next to impossible to ignore.
Staying motivated is a matter of assessing why you’re losing motivation and then fixing the problem. You may be unmotivated because you have tasks that you simply dislike. You may be suffering from burn out because your life is a little out of balance.
You may feel uninspired because you don’t have any exciting goals for yourself. It’s important to recognize when you’re feeling unmotivated, and to determine why you’re feeling unmotivated and then to fix the problem.
Growing Your Business/Career
Even work at home careers can hit a plateau. That’s okay and it is to be expected. Your goals and your definition of success will largely determine how you handle this challenge. If you are working from home simply to earn some extra cash then it may not be a problem for you.
If you’re working at home because it inspires you and you have a desire to build a business or a career then you will face this challenge. The end of this report addresses a few ways to grow your business and work at home career. And you can turn to your network of WAHMs for guidance and advice.
Staying Confident
A work at home career is filled with new judgments and biases. You may hear questions like:
“When are you going to get a real job?” Or “What do you do all day?”
If you’re home, friends and family may not respect the fact that you need time to focus on your career or business. They may pop in to say hello or interrupt your working time. You’ll need to set boundaries and remain confident in your decision to work from home.
Trust God, seek Him and put Him first in all you do–then make sure you work hard, remain diligent, and be proud of the business or career you build walking with the Lord.
Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty.– Proverbs 21:5 (NLT)
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