When I ask mums who want to work from home or start a home business why they want to work from home, the first answer is often 'to make money'. Many households struggle on one income, and many family cannot afford the lifestyle they want. However, I have been approached by quite a few women who don't necessarily need the income, but still want to do something else than just being a full-time mum. When we look into it further, there are indeed so many other benefits for work at home mums, going beyond making an income.
Firstly, there are obvious benefits for work at home mums, such as the flexibility to work around your kids, being your own boss, avoiding the time-wasting commute, and getting tax benefits. These lifestyle and personal benefits can allow women to fully merge their role as a mum and their professional aspirations. Most importantly, working from home can bring benefits which extend much further than lifestyle and income.
Beyond the necessity or desire to make an income while looking after your family, work at home mums pursue self-realisation, or the ability to exploit and reach their full potential. Being a mum in itself brings so many challenges, new skills and new experiences, yet many of us feel the need to do something else, something for ourselves and separate from our role as a mother and spouse. Being able to learn, develop and use our skills in a personal project brings a different kind of reward and feeling of accomplishment. It's not about being a super-mum. It's about being a great mum, and also being ourselves, with our own identity, ability and power to use our skills, participate and contribute.
Working is also about being connected. Stay-at-home mums often create new relationships with mums in their areas, to share knowledge, experiences and support. Work at home mums do the same. The internet offers unlimited opportunities for people to connect with others who share similar interests or goals. Starting a new work from home business creates more opportunities to network as a professional, entrepreneur and work at home mum. Not only can you offer your services or products, you can also establish working relationships and connect with other associates, colleagues, peers, mentors and new friends. A home business venture should not be one of complete independence and isolation. Surprisingly perhaps, working from home can be an open door to creating new relationships with like-minded people, even way beyond your company or business organisation.
Finally, no matter what your primary motivation is in working from home, your new endeavour is sure to offer benefits at many levels, personally, financially, and professionally. Work at home mums have the opportunity to effectively use their time, skills and resources to make an income, realise career goals, exploit their potential at many levels, build rewarding relationships, and be home to look after their family.
Justine Simard is a mother of two and home business owner. Visit me at Work At Home Mums to learn about a home business opportunity that allows mums to work from home around their kids, and achieve a higher income, a better lifestyle and more freedom.
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