by Jane Hendry

Created on: July 31, 2009

As a parent, working from home provides a wonderful opportunity to contribute to the family income, while still being available to your husband and children when they really need you. It takes a special kind of person to work from home as the benefits run alongside a certain amount of isolation, need for self discipline and the ability to juggle the household with what often is a full time job.

Many people have stereotyped those who work from home by assuming they don't get up until midday, they spend the day in their pyjamas and they are not really working a proper job. This stereotype imposed on parents who actually do work from home, could not be further from the truth.

In order to successfully work from home it is important to set routine to your day and establish working hours versus home hours and to set about carrying out your work in a disciplined and professional manner. This can be difficult when people, who don't understand the concept of working from home, decide to pop round for a chat mid morning, assuming, based on their stereotype of you, that you have nothing better to do.

In order to get people to take you seriously and to understand that you really do work while at home there are certain criteria that can be put in place:

Make sure people know what it is that you do

When asked this question, explain the kind of work you do or give it a title, for example you would say 'I am a writer, and I work for myself on behalf of different companies.' rather than saying 'I work from home'. Give some details of the types of work that you do. Working for yourself means that you constantly need to sell your skills anyway, so make sure people know what those are. If someone calls asking you to do something when you are actually working, don't just say you are busy, tell them you have a big contract on the go and the deadline is looming, and then arrange another time to join them.

Specify your working hours

For those close to you who might drop in for a midmorning cup of coffee, thinking that you are also at a loss for things to do, make sure you let them know your working hours very early on. If you work full day, ask them to visit after five in the evening, if your work allows you to finish mid afternoon, make and appointment to see them then.

Be disciplined and work

There is nothing worse than trying to dispel a stereotype when you are actually living it. If you do work from home, be disciplined, set up a work routine and stick to it. Keep records of your daily tasks, income and expenditure so that you know how well your home business is working. To make a success of your home based business, whether you are a freelancing, providing a service or selling a product from home, you need to put in the hours and be consistent.

The biggest problem with the stereotyping society imposes on parents who work from home, is that it can interfere with the working day. If there is no interference, then perhaps it is better to ignore the stereotype, get on with your work and prove them wrong in the end by making a success of your business.

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