It’s been a pretty good run for me lately as far as business goes. After a bit of a dry spell in May, I have a pretty good amount of work coming in. I’ve just resolved that May is up there with December in terms of trying to get anyone to do anything. Who knew that graduation and the end of the school year affected so many personal schedules? However time not wasted; I revisited my procrss and restructured my fees. I even took out some advertising, even though my primary avenue for new clients is word of mouth.
At the end of May, I even wrote up a bit about how I had to rebuild my computer because the latest Windows update made everything go to shit. I turned it into the opportunity to finally upgrade my Adobe Creative Suite, and I now use Adobe Cloud Creative. It’s a monthly subscription fee, but WOW. After asking around in some facebook freelancing thinktank groups I’m in; I discovered that you are allowed to install this program on two machines with the same subscription. WOW – GAME CHANGER! Since I frequently need to work on my tablet while hanging with the little man, this spoke to me of all the liberation of flying. In fact, here’s me working while cruising down IH 10.
I’m using my cell phone to update my files, yo. That’s crazy to even have a data plan I’m basically not using, so I feel no guilt in doing this. And to think, not ten years ago I would desperately try to remove the battery from my phone in the middle of it booting up the mobile browser so I wouldn’t have to accidentally pay for the luxury of mobile internet. Now I use it to wirelessly work on my creative cloud files. THIS is the modern day world we live in, y’all.
This is why I’m such a proponent and promoter of the mobile worker. If all you need is a phone, an email, and a computer to work on – why the hell not let your employee work somewhere besides the office – even if for a percentage of time. It would really save on resources and overhead since the average household already has a computer and a phone. They’ve also proved that the 40 hour work week no longer guarantees the rate of production it used to.
There are many different resources on this, particularly of interest is the summation below:
From Crew.com:
how should we schedule our days then? What if we let our body schedule it for us?
Light and genetics are the two main factors that help your body tell time.
Light especially creates a natural cycle of energy levels throughout your day, which typically looks something like this:
Your genetics, however, is what causes your cycle to be longer or shorter. This has surprising consequences.
If your cycle is a bit longer, you would be considered a night owl and have more energy in the evening.
If yours is a bit shorter, you’re most likely an early riser, says Katherine Sharkey, MD, PhD, associate director of the Sleep for Science Research Lab.
Read more below:
https://crew.co/blog/why-you-shouldnt-work-set-hours/
However, for us work at home moms, this all roughly translates into WORK WHENEVER YOU CAN. When the baby is napping, when the baby is doing something on their own, whenever you can sit by them quietly, whenever you can email from your phone while breastfeeding (which apparently is shunned by some).
I mean, this also applies to eat when you can, sleep when you can, shower when you can… and some days are easier than others. Some days you have to hold your pee for hours and sometimes you had the flexibility to wrap up a project, send some invoices, and land a new client.
You’d think with all of these little triumphs and successes, people would be more interested.
I recently read a post about how one woman wore one single earring just to see how long people would notice.
http://www.scarymommy.com/mom-earring-feels-invisible-after-birth/
This piece kind of shook me. As I sit here among family, hardly anyone has asked me how my business is going. The business I run all by myself. The effortless times I switch from accounting to producer to client relations to advertising. And then to mother, chef, and diaper changer 20 times in between. Even when I sat here and bragged about the two awards I recently run from my work, I just got an unimpressed “oh”.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1072179639578624&id=475489009247693
I’m a new mom, so it hasn’t really much occurred to me. However, I do remember after three margaritas last year, in an effort to get someone to talk about something else than their child, i selfishly blurted out “god don’t you ever get tired of talking about that?”, and the answer was no, as she rubbed the belly containing a new arrival.
Foot in my mouth, for sure.
I do think that woman can, and should be, encouraged to discuss things besides their children. I grew up in a community where I saw a handful of stay at home moms who put their children as their only activity and interest, putting aside their health, their future, and their individuality aside. They made me quite sad.
I have read many pieces on how women lose their individuality, their sense of purpose, upon committing to motherhood. Little things, too, like no one waits for you to eat anymore. You just get cold dinner and maybe some dessert; if theres any left. No one gives a shit if you’re trying to get some badly needed sleep. People forget you have a job or your own interests. You’re just the full grown person who carries the baby into the room, and then back out of the room when it gets upset. Some take it in stride, some flounder. I myself, feel like I have a pretty good handle – however, i only have one baby under the age of one, and he has no health problems, which I am eternally thankful for.
So please, readers. See if the mom in your life wants to talk about something besides her kids. She’s a person, and she probably feels invisible some days.
Also, bring her coffee.
