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Working from home and being your own boss is the dream for a lot of people. Aside from a few months at a frozen yogurt shop, I have worked for myself since I was 18 years old. It was actually at the same time I was working at the frozen yogurt shop that I booked my very first senior picture session for a whopping $50. Even still, I soon realized that I was charging $50 for an hour of photos while making $7.25 per hour at the yogurt shop, so you can probably guess what I did next. I’ve been working for myself ever since. As great as it all may seem, there are negative aspects to everything in life and this isn’t excluded. Don’t get me wrong – it’s pretty much the best thing ever and I wouldn’t want it any other way. But it can be tough at times and it isn’t right for everyone. Today I am sharing 3 positives and 3 negatives that I have experienced in the past few years that I have been working from home.
Positive: Flexibility
The flexibility that comes with being your own boss is one of the biggest positives for me. I like to be the one to schedule when I work and when I don’t work. If I want to take a day or two off or even a week vacation, I just won’t schedule a session for that period of time. I get to choose and intentionally plan my calendar which I absolutely love. I definitely don’t miss the days of somebody else telling me where and when I need to be somewhere.
Negative: Working by yourself
Many jobs have you working with and surrounded by people each day, whether coworkers or customers or both. In most cases when you are working for yourself, you are working by yourself. I enjoy working alone but there are definitely times that I wish I worked in a place surrounded by people with common goals. The upside to this is that my career doesn’t always have me at home – I am often outside photographing and interacting with people towards the end of the day which is nice. On the days when I have only editing or computer work to do, I will sometimes go to a coffee shop to be able to get things done but still be out and about and around other people.
Positive: No alarm in the morning
This is something I always forget to appreciate. Very rarely, maybe only a few times a year, do I set my alarm to be up at a certain time. I wake up decently early on my own but it’s really nice to get out of bed when it’s light out and without anything beeping at me.
Negative: Work/home life balance
This is something that many people who work from home really struggle with. When you have an office job for example, you normally will work from 9am-5pm and then come home and your work stays at the office until the next morning. When you work from home you don’t necessarily have “office hours” and things don’t just end at 5pm. It can be really hard to balance work life vs. home life. It’s something that can be fixed by setting strict hours for yourself and setting automated messages to clients who reach out after 5pm. It’s not always that easy though, because you feel like “I have the time so I should be getting this done right now” and end up working until midnight. It’s tough!
Positive: Comfortability
A great perk of working from home is not having to get dressed up! Sometimes there is nothing better than staying in pajamas all day. This one has a negative side too though, because it can hurt your productivity. I know I feel a million times more motivated if I get dressed and ready to go when I wake up in the morning, even if I don’t have plans to go anywhere. It really does make a huge difference!
Negative: Distractions
When you work in your home, you are surrounded by your daily life and distractions. It constantly feels like there is something else you could be doing and it can be difficult to focus. This one isn’t a huge problem for me at the moment but I know it will become challenging when I have kids. The way this looks for me right now is that my work, aside from sessions which are scheduled at a specific time, is very flexible so technically I am always “free” for other activities because I can usually push computer work off until the following day. I am learning to set deadlines for myself in order to be sure I am staying on top of everything and getting things done.
All in all, the flexibility itself outweighs the negatives for me. It takes a lot of self motivation and there are days when I just can’t get it together but I wouldn’t trade it. Would you work from home if you could or are you happy in the environment you’re currently in? I’d love to hear!
