I’ve been working from home for almost a year now; part-time that is. I still work my full-time job Monday through Friday, and I freelance during the evenings and weekends so I get to experience the best and worst of both worlds first hand.
I’ve noticed there are quite a few work-from-home myths circulating around these days – some of which I actually used to believe. The media and other sources may paint working from home as this ideal picture where you get to sleep in, work in your pjs and do whatever you want when you want, but that’s just certainly not the case.
Here are 6 common work-from-home myths that need to be exposed and put to rest.
1. You’re Not Really Working
Whoever came up with this myth was seriously disturbed. A lot of people still think working from home really isn’t ‘working’. In my personal experience, a lot of my older family members feel this way and don’t understand what I do because they are so used identifying work and success with brick and mortar businesses and blue collar white collar workers who work a typical 40-hour per week job.
Society is changing though (luckily) and more and more people are working-from-home. The main point is, they’re still working; and working hard might I add. There’s no secret formula or special juice to professional success. You need to put in the hard work in order to get paid whether you work at on office, out in the field, or at your home.
2. It’s Easier than Working Outside of the Home
Yes, the idea of working at home may seem easier and in certain ways it is. While you won’t have to deal with the pros and cons of having coworkers along with a boss that’s just a few feet away that you need to report to, there will still be other challenges that you’ll need to overcome.
While you can literally do whatever you want when you want when you work from home, you need to have discipline you’ll get nothing done. Sure, you can sleep until 10 a.m. and meet up with a friend for a two hour lunch break, but you won’t probably won’t get much work done that day unless you work late into the evening.
There are also tons of temptations lying around in your home in the form of your bed, your fridge and your television. I usually work from my kitchen table and I’ve felt tempted to just jump back in bed for a few hours or run to the T.V. to watch a movie on the days when I have to work-from-home more than I’d like to admit. It’s important to stay focused and have self-discipline if you want to avoid those temptations.
3. You’ll Have More Spare Time When you Work From Home
This is the myth I used to believe wholeheartedly. I knew that if I worked from home full-time it would cut down on my commute and speedup my productivity so I could have more time to clean up the house and spend time with family.
I believed this until I stayed home to freelance for a few whole days. When I was recovering from a wisdom tooth extraction last year, I stayed home from my day job and decided to freelance the entire day. From the time I dropped my son off at school at 8 am to the time I had to get ready to pick him up just after 2pm, I got about a total of 3 things done. Dinner wasn’t made or prepped, and I hadn’t even started on tidying up the house at that point.
This just goes to show you that how much spare time you have is mainly determined by your time management skills. I’ve heard plenty of people who work-from-home complain that they still don’t feel like they have enough time to get things done or have plenty of unproductive days when little gets accomplished.
Improving your time management skills and balancing your work day is always a work-in-progress no matter where you do work.
4. You Can work While the Kids are Sleeping and Won’t Need Daycare
This is everyone’s dream but it rarely happens. Kids can nap for about 2-3 hours on good days and most of the time I just want to lay down and nap with my son but I choose to knock out some work instead.
If you’re trying to earn a full-time income while working at home, nap time hours might not be enough. But you can always try to work early in the morning or late at night depending on when your child sleeps as well. Some people still pay for part-time child-care or have a nanny step in to help with the kids for a few hours to free up more time to work uninterrupted.
5. To Work-From-Home You Need to be Lucky
Successful people who work from home are not lucky – contrary to popular belief – and they don’t just fall into their line of work randomly. It takes hard work, dedicaton and a detailed plan to start working from home.
Whoever tells you that it’s super easy to start working from home and making good money in the beginning stages may not be telling the whole story.
6. Anyone Can Do It
I think this is a common myth because personally I don’t believe just anyone can work from home. Some work-from-home jobs are so simple that anyone can do the work, while others are a little more complex and require training.
However, it takes a certain type of person to work-from-home. Like I said, you need to be disciplined and focused so you can make the most of your time and work productively without a having a boss nearby to hover over your shoulder.
You also need to be okay with working alone since some people actually like having coworkers and interacting with others in person during the work day.
Working from home isn’t perfect, but it can be ideal for the right person.
What work-from-home myths have you heard?
I love this list Chonce!I agree with all of your points. I felt like I used to get a lot of criticism for taking my kids to a babysitter a few hours a day so I could get some work done, but working from home is still work. I don’t think many people could get much done if they took their kids to work with them.
Agreed! It’s hard to focus on work 100% when you have to tend to the kids and their needs as well. If you try to get both done at the same time, you won’t accomplish much.
This is such a great list! Even if I didn’t have kids at home all day long, I would still struggle with it. There are just too many distractions. I get way too distracted by my messy house and always tell myself “when it is clean I will get to work”. Four hours later, the house is still a mess and I feel as though I’ve accomplished nothing. The flexibility is probably the hardest part because you can always “do it later” but what are the chances that you actually will?
That is EXACTLY what I do. I want my house to be perfect so every little thing distracts me. I’ve been working on lowering my cleanliness standards lol
On the days that I work from home I try to do a quick run through and clean a bit in the morning but I save most of the cleaning for after I finish some work tasks because it relaxes me and it’s a nice way to decompress.
I have been working from home one day per week for over a year now and my family still considers it my “off day.” I work harder while at home than I do at work to ensure I reflect accountability and responsibility. Sometimes I feels like it’s much more challenging.
It does seem more challenging in some ways. I still don’t know what to tell people when they ask if I’m ‘off” on weekend because technically, I work 7 days a week.
There is a lot of Truth in this post Chonce. Great job!
I think that a big part of the problem is that so many folks don’t think that a Stay at Home parent works. If you are “home with the kids” you are not doing anything. Yet, everyone knows that babies and toddlers wear you out! It gets a bit easier when the kids are school age but don’t tell anyone that you are a Stay at Home Parent, Work from Home Parent or Student. IF word gets out that you ” don’t work” you will be chaperoning field trips, making costumes, running science labs etc etc etc
Also, don’t underestimate the value of your “friends at work.” Working with out a support network isn’t fun. If you are strictly work from home, you will need to work on rebuilding that
Personally, I am trying to learn to deep focus for a few hours in the morning when my kids are gone. ( Or, supposed to be gone.) A lot of office time is wasted in dumb meetings and interruptions. I’m also thinking a part time job around people might be a good compliment to online work.
~ C
Toddlers need a lot of attention because they’re mobile! 🙂 I do appreciate having coworkers and being able to socialize and interact with others at work, but I feel like I work pretty well on my own as well.
Yes! There are plenty of people in my family who think I’m not really working since I work from home. Then they wonder why I pay for help with the kids. Of course I want to spend time with my kids, but I’m also the breadwinner for our family right now. Great job de-bunking these myths!
It’s nearly impossible to get work done with young kids around that need your attention. Since you have two, I see exactly why getting extra help is a must.
I do have to work when my daughter is asleep, so it’s about 2-3 hours/day max, provided I need to cook and take care of some chores as well. I am starting to be VERY productive though, so I can accomplish in 2 hours what used to take me 8
That’s impressive! I try to get my hardest task done early in the day when I am most productive and improve my efficiency to save time.
I love this post. I think we all need it printed and hung on our walls for other people to see! I had to laugh at that “more time” part. I work from home full-time, I have a four year old, and one year old twins. I also have sole responsibility for the housekeeping and finances. Plus, we homeschool! There is no such thing as spare time!
Love this article, I just started working from home by becoming a member in http://www.wahspace.com and applying to work from home jobs they have there. This tips will be very useful, thanks for sharing!
I couldn’t agree more with these myths! I do a lot of freelancing and a lot of people consider that it’s not working haha! 🙂 Thanks for sharing