Since I work from home, I don't have much of a social life anymore. I will admit that I am a bit antisocial anyway. I have been hurt in the past and guard myself because of it. The problem I have now is that some people don't understand I am not always just sitting here eating bon bons and watching television. I do work for a living, but I do it at home.
Every single day I have views to check, backlinking to do, blogs to write, and goals to meet. I don't have set hours, but I do still have deadlines. I can't always answer the phone when you call because regardless of if you understand I have to watch "Holly's World" and write about it within 12 hours of the end of the show. It's amazing job and yes I do really get paid to do it.
I just hope someday that people will understand how hard I work at home and that I do pay bills with the money that I make here. For some reason, they sometimes just think it is all a scam, but it isn't and please understand when I am working sometimes I just don't have as much free time as I used to have everyday.
On top of that, I am taking care of a 2 year old and 7 year old all day long. Love them and wouldn't trade it for the world, but it makes me one busy momma.
People do have a hard time understanding that we can get paid for things like that. I'm sure there are some people that don't understand that I get paid for my MySpace work. Yep, it's fun and work -- work I get paid for. So that means I have to complete it or lose my job.
ReplyDeleteI wish more people did understand how hard we work every single day.
Excellent post - hopefully as virtual and telecommuting jobs become more commonplace, attitudes will change toward those of us who do work from home.
ReplyDeleteI know it's always difficult to explain what it is I "do all day" - since the tasks are varied. Like at the doctor's office, when they want to update records, the receptionist usually stares at me blankly while I rattle off that I do freelance writing, editing, etc. - she usually ends up saying, "Oh, so you're self-employed." Yeah, OK, that works, I guess!
Heck, I work outside of the house and I still have no social life LOL!! You are right about understanding. Most people just don't understand WAH at all.
ReplyDeleteI don't have much o a social life either between work and school. It really does not bother me, I am guarded too. I wish there was some way we could start a club to teach people what its like to work from home. We should start and alliance.
ReplyDeleteNice post!
ReplyDeleteI find that as writers we tend to be a little anti-social. It’s not that we don’t like people, but it’s hard to focus on writing and creating when there are too many people around.
I’ve been at this for 4 years. In the beginning I felt that I had to explain what I did and was almost apologetic about it. Now…well…I don’t care if they understand what I do. When asked, I tell people, “I write.” If they ask what I write about, I say “Anything and everything”
Only the truly interested will ask more questions and those are the folks who get a full explanation. Usually they ask because they want to do the same thing too.