Maybe the post struck me because I worked this past weekend when I hadn't really intended to, or maybe Dawud has hit a nerve common to all home workers -- I don't know. In my case, I ended up working over a holiday weekend because I had to deal with an unexpected family emergency last Thursday, which ate up some of my usual working time.
Anyway, the post got me thinking about why we work-at-home moms (WAHMs) have trouble slowing down. Of course, all moms have emergencies like I did -- and when those came up they have to be dealt with right away. An emergency is, well, an emergency!
Emergencies can't account for all of our busyness, though. There's got to be more to it.
I came up with some reasons why WAHMs might get overbooked. Take a look and see if any of these reasons fit your situation:
- Accepting work too cheaply. This happens when a WAHM either knowingly accepts work at too low of a rate, OR unknowingly underestimates the amount of work involved in a project. The net result is the same. A lower rate means more hours spent to get the same money.
Here's a concrete example: let's say that I need to earn $500 a week from my home business. Now, there's a couple of ways I could get to my $500 a week. I could accept projects at $5.00 per hour and work 100 hours during the week. I could accept projects at $25.00 per hour and work 20 hours a week. I could accept projects at $50.00 per hour and work 10 hours during the week. Or, (dare I dream it?) I could accept projects at $500 per hour and work one hour during the week. (Of course there are many other variations that would equal $500 a week, these are oversimplified for the sake of illustration.) - Not saying "no." My feed readers know that I've posted about this problem before. The reasons that we don't say "no" vary from believing that we should be able to do more than we actually can to being afraid that we'll lose an opportunity forever if we turn it down. Whatever the reason, the result is the same. Not saying "no" means more work.
Using the example from above, let's say that I already have enough projects lined up for the week to earn my $500. Let's say that I even have enough projects lined up for the following week to earn $500. Unexpectedly a new client contacts me and asks me to "squeeze" them in. Even though I've already met my goal for the week, I say "yes" because I'm afraid that if I turn them down (or even request an extension) they'll not consider me again for their projects. - Being disorganized. Disorganization is a sure time-waster. There are a lot of reasons that we get disorganized. If you're faced with a big project it's easy to get overwhelmed, panic, and rush into it without a plan. (One of the life skills that I am trying to teach my kids is to break large tasks into smaller, more manageable tasks.)
Let's all do as Dawud suggests. Let's slow down!
What do you think? Was this post helpful? Did you see yourself in any of the situations above? (Personally, I've been in all of those situations at one time, or another.)
Leave a comment and let me know.
Thank you Laura for your wonderful Post. I can't speak for all Work-At-Home-Parents, but I know that I struggle with this all the time. I have many problems that work together to overwhelm me and keep me from slowing down and having more family and "just me" time.
1. Trouble telling people and business prospects "no". - if I can say no it will equal more time for me.
2. Perfectionist and feeling the need to succeed. - I need to get over this problem.... it will create more time to do things that make me happy.
3. Starting projects b/4 finishing my last. - I should finish one project and take a "me" break b/4 starting a new project.
4. Being Disorganized. - you explained this perfectly in your post.
I'm sure there are so many others, but as I write this post I've lost my train of thought. I know I need to work on the above issues... Once I get those under control I believe that I can focus on more important issues.... knowing when to slow down.
Posted by: Shana | September 4, 2007 11:02 AM | Permalink to Comment