Ten Things No One Tells You About Working From Home

I’ve been working from home for about two years now. It’s funny because I remember imagining what it would be like to work from home. I pictured this fairy tale like land of sleeping in, dressing and looking put together every day, having an adorable office that would be Instagram worthy, being able to go out and have fun whenever I wanted and being able to catch up on all my Netlix shows. I don’t think anyone prepared me for what working from home would actually look like. I mean don’t get me wrong, the first month or so was a dream. A dream because I really didn’t work and watched lots of TV and cooked a lot of yummy meals. But then I remembered, oh yeah, I have to make money (imagine that). If you work for yourself, I’m sure you’ll relate to these, & if you don’t, well these are the not so Insta-worthy parts of working from home.

1. YOU SOMETIMES HAVE TO FORCE YOURSELF TO BE PRODUCTIVE: Some days it’s so easy to check everything off your to-do list and other days it’s a serious struggle! I have no boss except for myself (I’m a great boss if I do say so myself lol) so no one is giving me a set deadline or yelling at me to do this or do that. It’s easy to say, “ehh maybe I’ll just finish this tomorrow?” It took me months to learn true productivity and to break that cycle of procrastination. Procrastination is such a hard trait to break, but it can be done and if you work from home, it’ll make your life so much easier if you can end that nasty cycle.
2. YOU ESCAPED THE 9-5 BUT NOW WORK THE 7-7: I’m not kidding either. You know that quote from Lori Greiner, “Entrepreneurs are willing to work 80 hours a week to avoid working 40”, well that is entrepreneurship right there. I know that it is possible to work less, but I haven’t hit that point yet. It’s still all hustle over here.
3. YOU TALK TO ANYONE AND ANYTHING: For those of you who follow me on my Instagram, you know I love to talk. Working from home leaves me alone all day long, and I can’t go 5 minutes without talking. So I talk to myself (like a crazy person), Nina (my doggo), my food before I eat it, the neighbors and a lot of times I’ll get on my InstaStory just to talk even if nobody listens. I mean, I get pumped when the UPS guy comes! Yay someone for me to talk to!
4. IT CAN BE LONELY: Building a business in general can be lonely. Nobody truly understands what you’re doing or going through (especially when you’re first starting out), people may be discouraging, you’re doing it alone and not only are you building your business alone but you are alone. You spend your days with yourself and your thoughts and then in the evenings and on weekends you’re either exhausted and want to relax/sleep or you’re working. You really have to make an effort to get out and be in social settings.
5. YOU’LL NEVER WEAR NORMAL CLOTHES: I’m not kidding when I say, I never get ready. Unless you count my leggings, sweatshirts, top knots and no makeup as getting ready then I guess I’m doing well! This can be a perk of working at home, I mean you can go all day without wearing a bra, so praise!
6. EVERYONE WILL ASK “SO WHAT DO YOU DO?”: Trust me everyone will ask you this and it can be tough to answer. I used to answer with some bs title that sounded way more fancy than what I was truly doing. Or I’d answer in paragraph form instead of a few words. Or I’d ramble on and on. Now, I kind of have it down to an actual title. Do people know what I’m saying? Well, not really.
7. YOU HAVE TO CELEBRATE YOURSELF: No more office parties, office besties or raises from your boss for hitting a new goal. If you accomplish a goal you set, you have to celebrate yourself because no one else is around to celebrate with you. For me, this usually means a giddy laugh and two minutes of dancing around the kitchen, and then it’s back to business. But hey, don’t forget to reward yourself for being awesome! Just because you’re a one man show doesn’t mean you can’t be proud of yourself and reward yourself with five cookies in the bathtub.
8. THAT INSTAWORTHY OFFICE IS ACTUALLY A BED: My office changes day to day. A lot of times it’s me sitting on the couch with a coffee or sitting in bed with 500 papers thrown around or maybe I get real crazy and sit at the kitchen table so I can smell the chips in the near pantry. No cute office for this girl. At least not yet.
9. YOU’LL WANT TO QUIT A MILLION TIMES: At one point or another you’ll question everything: your dreams, the career, the change, the location and you’ll cry more tears in your dirty hoodie than you thought possible. You’ll think about leaving it all for something more stable, but you’ll always come back to realize how much you truly love what you’re doing.
10. IT’S SO WORTH IT!: The tears, the fears, the vulnerability, the loneliness, the dirty hair is all so worth it! You’re breaking the mold and daring to be different, you’re following your God given talents and creating a life that you love. It may not be perfect but it’s perfect for you because you created it and nobody can take that away from you. You’ve designed this life and you’re doing great!