NOTE: With this article, Towel & Basin continues its celebration of Women’s History Month by serving and supporting, encouraging and empowering women who are making history today.
The long-held presumption that women must choose between being at home or away at work is not well-founded.
More and more women are choosing to stay home but still pursue a career.
Now, if you currently work outside the home, you might wonder if you could make the shift to become a WAHM (Work-At-Home Mom). Perhaps you have the business idea, or you have the acumen to start something new, but you just aren’t sure that you can actually do it.
How will you know when you are ready? There are a few questions to ask yourself.
Can I afford it?
Consider your finances. Depending on what business you plan to work at home, it might take some time for you to make money in your new venture.
To determine if you can afford your WAHM venture,
Add up your base living expenses each month. If you have a spouse, does a single income cover that expense? If not, do you have enough in savings to cover the difference if needed for the first few months of your WAHM business?
If one salary isn’t enough to cover your expenses and you do not have savings that you can pull from if necessary, then consider working a few more months. During these months, put as much as possible into a savings or reserve account for your new venture.
Calculate the start-up expenses for your business. Can you make that investment? Remember that some start-up expenses are tax-deductible, but you still have to be able to make the purchases and investments now.
Have I contemplated challenges?
Working at home is often more challenging than it might appear initially. The idea of working at home can hold some romance. But then reality sets in. People discover it’s not as glamourous as and more difficult than they thought, especially when there are children in the home.
Ask yourself if you will be able to find the time and quiet to effectively work at home. Think about the kind of job you’ll be doing.
If it requires phone work, is there a quiet place in the house you can do that work?
If it requires computer time, is there a computer that you can use for your work?
Do you have a good area that you can claim as your workspace?
Once you have secured a spot and know what you’re going to do, think about the family arrangement.
If you have very young children who aren’t even in preschool yet, do you have plans for how you will work around them?
Do you have family who can help you or could you hire a babysitter?
If you need to work full-time and your kids are in school, how will you handle your work time once they are home from school? How about holidays, days off and summer vacations?
Am I ready to change?
Transitioning from being a mom who works outside the home to one who works at home can be tough. Or, if you’ve been a stay-at-home mom, it can be difficult on your family, too.
Your family must make the transition from having you accessible to them almost anytime to acknowledging that their access is now limited. They must learn to respect and honor the work hours you’ve set and committed to business matters.
Ask yourself these questions about the transition. And answer them honestly.
Am I ready to work at home?
Can I handle the isolation?
Do I think I can be a work-at-home mom and still see to my family’s needs?
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If you’ve been thinking about becoming a WAHM for some time, you very likely know the answers to all of these questions already. Once you know that you are ready for the change, the transition can be reasonably straightforward: Your confidence will help provide a good result.
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