In August 2009, I left corporate America and decided I wasn't going to work for "The Man" anymore.The last 7 months have been a learning curve. In my usual "Oh So Cynthia" style, I can honestly say I didn't really think about all of the nuances of this career change.
I just had a gut instinct and I took off running as hard as I could and I leapt off the cliff. What would be at the bottom? I dunno? On my way down, I was thinking, "I hope there's a bale of hay down there" And guess what. There was. But the landing has been a bit rough.
I was prepared for the long hours. I was prepared for the transition I knew my husband and I would have figuring out our roles as partners in our agency, Gangway Advertising. I was prepared for wearing all the hats of IT, Accounts Payable, Customer Service, etc. I was prepared to have to spend evenings at networking events to find new business leads. I knew there would be sacrifices. What I wasn't prepared for, was the struggle I would have balancing my new role as an entrepreneur and business owner with my role as a Mother.
I came across this great article from Entrepreneur Magazine titled, "Working From Home Is Hard Work : A few guidelines to help you work from home efficiently--no pajamas allowed"
In a nutshell, it talks about creating a structure for your day. To treat going to your home office like you are going to an outside office. The biggest takeaway I took from the article?
Take a shower and get dressed.
Although I really like the fact that I don't have to get dressed up, it is a little disconcerting to my son when he comes home from school at 3:30 PM and I'm sitting in my office in my PJ's. He looks at me like, "What have you been doing all day?!"
If you work at home - you need to read this.
