How Work From Home Jobs Can Be Powerful and Life-changing

Having children can change you. I had heard it before but truly didn’t appreciate how true it would be until I had children of my own. Suddenly, the career path I was on didn’t hold the same lustre and I was left feeling pulled in too many directions.

Teaching was always the dream. I loved the feeling of connecting with students and collaborating with my colleagues. Most of my work was in special education and I felt good about the work I was doing to protect the most vulnerable in our education system. Then I had two boys in 2 years and I started to realize that I only had so much in me to give. Suddenly, I was resenting the fact that I was coming home depleted with nothing left for my own children. Add to that the stress of last-minute scrambling when one of them was sick and I began longing for a career that would have less of an emotional toll. 

I decided that I wanted to do something for myself. Something I could do if my kids were home sick, or if we were stuck in the house during a snowstorm (last year we had 20 bus cancellation days). I have always loved reading and relish fixing mistakes (I am one of those sick humans who actively searches for spelling errors in menus), so I decided to become an editor. I had never had any actual “training”, but had been casually editing for friends and family for years. Although I never expected to work from home, working with Tangible Words has transformed our family and the way I look at my career path.

3 Benefits of Work From Home Jobs

• Flexibility: Once my kids were in school, I wanted the ability to go on a field trip, or help in their classroom. Unfortunately, as a teacher, I was not able to do any of that. By working from home, as long as I get the work done by the deadline, I can do it whenever works for me. So it may be on a Saturday night in my pajamas once everyone is in bed, or on the couch with a sick child, but it is on my time. Working from home also allows flexibility in location. I live in a very rural area, but still have access to so many amazing job opportunities because of a distributed office.

• Less Stress: Life with (or without!) kids is busy. It is easy to get overwhelmed with deadlines, appointments, holidays and the day-to-day chaos. Working from home allows me to be strategic with how I plan my work schedule so that I work during the quiet times, which can minimize the stress during the busier times. Stress can play a powerful role in our health and happiness and being able to maintain that is important. 

• More Time with Family: Every new parent has heard the “enjoy it...it goes so fast” line, but you truly cannot appreciate it until your baby grows from weeks to months to years old. I did not want someone else raising my children while I worked, and working from home provided me the privilege of having my boys home with me. Now that they are both in school, I am able to be the one to get them on and off the bus. 

Lessons I’ve Learned From Working From Home

Is working from home easy? No! Sometimes I have to break up wrestling matches, or I have dinky cars driving over my fingers as I type. However, I have grown as a person, and as a mom through this journey. I have learned many lessons the hard way as I have created and sculpted my business so that it works for me. 

• Outsourcing: My first few years of working from home I did everything on my own. Partly to save money, partly because I am stubborn. After a health issue last Christmas, my mom suggested that I hire a housecleaner. Although it was difficult to have someone come into my space (and accept the fact that she was better at cleaning my house than I was), it has been an amazing timesaver. I also spent the first few years dealing with the money side of my business on my own. After spending days on my taxes, I finally decided to outsource my bookkeeping as well. It has made a world of difference. Now I don’t hold my breath for fear the CRA is going to hunt me down at tax time. 

• Saying No: One of the hardest words in the English language is the word ‘no’. The reason it is especially difficult is that saying no when you work from home is essentially turning down money. However, if we are stretched too thin then we are just doing an okay job at a lot of tasks. I aim to do a few things really well.

• Self-care: If my husband reads this he is going to roll his eyes because this is my daily struggle. The last thing on my daily to-do list would be my nutrition and sleep habits. Often times I am up very late at night wrapping up projects and during the day I just grab whatever’s easy to eat. I am beginning to learn that when I am not at my best, neither is my work. 

How Tangible Words Supports Working From Home

I began working for Tangible Words over a year ago and finally felt like I had found “my people”. This company embraces women who push the boundaries of the traditional workplace. I get to work with awesome people on a variety of projects and feel supported every step of the way. With the amazing advancements in technology, we are able to have staff meetings or training sessions online, regardless of where we are located. And I am also supported if I ever have something come up that makes meeting a deadline difficult (a sick kid, for example). I am so thankful for the daily opportunity to work for such a progressive company.

If you are interested in work from home jobs, take a look at the Career Page for Tangible Words.