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Hi, my name is Heather and I live in Bellflower, Calif. I have been working
at home for 6-1/2 years as an editor. Two and a half years ago I had our son
and then I had a daughter nearly seven months ago.
When I started working from home in 1999, I thought it was only going to be temporary. My company had just folded abruptly and several people from that company decided to try their hand at operating a publishing company. They were only going to publish two magazines to begin with. However, that two turned into eight within the first six months of publishing. Consequently, I had to scramble those first few months to get my computer running up to par, get an office established (I was living and working in one 10'x15' for the first six months), and learn how to do the job I was doing, since I had never had that much responsibility in my career. It was a steep learning curve. I found it hard to work from home for the first year and a half. Starting up a new company and working out the bugs of doing so plus the 14-hour days really were taxing. And not having a computer department to help me with computer issues meant I had to learn how to solve my own computer problems. Furthermore, I dealt with loneliness quite a bit. Working from home without much personal contact took getting used to. My coworker and I, who both worked from home at the time, found the solitude overwhelming at times and we would meet for lunch at least once a week just to have some face time with a friend. But once things were running smoothly and I adjusted to the change of work environment, working from home became a blessing. I learned that I didn't have to be at home all the time. As long as I had my cell phone and I checked my e-mail at least once a day, I could fit work in to my schedule, rather than fit my schedule around work. I quickly learned to enjoy the flexibility. I never had a problem with discipline regarding work. I knew what needed to be done and I did it. I didn't feel compelled to do other things when I knew it was work time. I subconsciously alloted certain hours to work and wouldn't deviate from that, sometimes as I said before, for 14 hours at a stretch, depending on the deadline. Today, I don't know if I could ever work in an office again. I joke (only have seriously) that if my company ever folded or laid me off, I would have to start my own business so I could continue to work from home. Thanks to the flexibility of the Internet and wireless Internet access and our company being 100% digital/Internet/e-mail based, I can travel anywhere and still do my job. This summer I took my two children out of state on a six-week trip without missing a beat work wise. I just signed up with T-Mobile's wireless Internet plan (month-to-month) and I would park outside of a Borders store and get my Internet without having to go inside with the children. They napped, I read e-mail. And staying home with my children without daycare is difficult, don't let anyone say it's not (I work days, nights, weekends, on my husband's days off, etc), but it's worth every sacrifice I make to hear my son saying new words daily and watch my baby girl learn to crawl. |
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