Can You Really Afford To
Work From Home?
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If you think juggling work and family is hard, try juggling a home business and family. As a work at home parent, your entire income depends upon the work you bring in or the products you sell. And until you earn enough steady income to hire help, everything that needs to get done to make your business successful falls in your lap.

You’re no longer the employee who clocks in at 8 in the morning and clocks out at 5 in the evening. You’re the boss who arrives early to make sure everything’s ready to go and leaves late, after making sure all tasks for the day have been completed. And somewhere in between you must still complete your daily parenting and spousal duties.

So before you take the plunge into the world of work at home mothers, sit down and decide if working from home is right for you and your family. Take the time to ask yourself:

• How badly do I want to work from home?
  Bad enough to sacrifice sleep? Bad enough to work when your children are napping, are in school, watching their favorite television show, or on a play date? Bad enough to work your regular job during the day, deal with your kids until they fall asleep, then work your business until the wee hours of the morning?
  
  Your business will never replace your current job, or make the time of money you desire, until you decide to make a few sacrifices. If you don’t have enough hours in the day to work a full-time job, a part-time business, and raise your children (and honestly, who does?!) then you need to take a hard look at your life.
  
  
• Will working from home cause friction in my marriage?
  The idea of working from home and owning your own business may be exciting, but if your spouse is deadest against it, the friction it causes could destroy your marriage. Before you decide to go full force, take the time to talk to your spouse about how your new business will affect your family, why it’s important to you, and how it can benefit your family in the long run.
  
  
• Will working from home conflict with how I want to raise my children?
  The most important reason mothers choose to work from home is to be readily available for their children. They never again want to ask an unsympathetic boss for a day off because their children are sick. They never want to miss another award ceremony, school play, or soccer game. And they never want to utter the words, “I’m sorry, I have to work late.”
  
  That’s all admirable and honestly more doable than not. But turning an idea into a profitable business takes hours of work and sometimes results in meeting a client when the children have a school function or missing a school function because you have a deadline that cannot be renegotiated. If you’re not willing to give up a few hours a day with your children to work, sacrificing an occasional school function, or working during the wee hours of the morning or late into the evenings, a home business may not be for you.
  
  And what if you’re the mother who wants the best the world has to offer for her children? What if you’re accustomed to working a full-time job so your children can attend private schools, horseback riding lessons, and afford name-brand clothing? Are you willing to give up those luxuries and put up with the whining until your children understand why you’ve changed the rules so your business has a fighting chance to succeed?
  
  
• What expenses can I delete from my budget so I can quit my full-time job and devote more time to my business and my family?
  Remember when I said working from home, working a full-time job, and raising a family is near impossible? After trying it for a few months, you’ll be ready to quit your job or your business. So before you get to that point, why not figure out what you have to do so you can quit your full-time job and work towards meeting that goal?
  
  Ask yourself questions like:
  
  a. Where can I cut monthly expenses?
  Do I really need cable television? Can I take care of the lawn myself? Will moving into a more affordable house decrease our monthly expenses? How soon can I pay off my car? Will consolidating my bills help or hurt?
  
  b. Can I earn money from stuff around the house to pay down some debt?
  Do I have closets full of clothes, shoes, purses, and knick knacks that have no sentimental value? Do I have kitchen appliance I never use, but just had to have? Is there anything that would get a good profit on eBay or at a garage sale?
  
  c. Does my family really need an all-expense paid vacation every year?
  
  
  
• How much money do I need to make from my business so I can meet my share of the household budget and my business expenses?
  The best way to determine how much money you need to make is to take your monthly salary and subtract expenses associated with working, such as taxes, childcare, work clothes or utilities, lunches during work hours, gas to and from work, extra car insurance because you’re driving more miles, etc. How much money is really left from your salary? Can you make that from your business now? If not, when do you think you’ll be able to make that much?