@kathybernard  I make a living with my business. Sometimes I wish I had a job again just for the advantage of steady cash coming in. But today I didn’t start working until almost 4pm because I went out and had fun this am. 

@kathybernard I’m going to try to do both Hope to launch my personal one over the summer. I’m interested in working with direct (small business) clients and consulting with larger organizations on their projects.

Hi @kathybernard —   

I’ve been working from home in several capacities since 1997.  Before that I worked both; full time days for an aircraft manufacturing subcontractor and evenings/weekends at my own businesses.  Five years at both.

Here is one thing though about my home businesses – It’s not all web business. Back in ’97 my fiance had a brain aneurysm, Grade IV (Grade V is dead so we were lucky) but he did not come out unscathed.  He is severely handicapped, both physically and mentally. He has no short term memory and cannot do things for himself.  He also came out with seizure disorder, so we have that to contend with too.

All my education up to that point was computers/internet/web/programming and cooking based.  But I left the day time job (engineering/programming) and went back to school and got the C.N.A. state certification so I would know how to do hands on care and then to further direct his care with other CNA’s.  

At this juncture we have two CNAs working part time to help with his care.  I mostly do the cooking (& bottle washing) and medication administration while coordinating his health care, doctor visits, intrathecal pump, therapies, etc., on a daily basis. I have never regretted the decision to become his guardian as you simply don’t throw people away because they lose some of their perfections. 

So my work days can be filled with the intricacies of business decisions along with nutritional value meal planning and medical records keeping. 

Here is the thing on that – I’d would never have (ever) conceived of myself as a professional or personal caregiver of any type – just not my field of interest – but you never know what you are capable of until it hits you in the face and you have to make hard decisions about your own life. And when that decision is also about the life of someone else (entirely) you have to think hard about what you want; what you can do; what you can handle.

This is also the basis of my “work from home” and “no more traveling” for work. Although I have taken several vacations all on my own just to get away from the busy days here.

I already had a well paying home business under my belt so making business grow was tantamount to keeping him at home (and as much as possible out of a care home). 

I love what I do here – all the work helps keeps us young, you know? Heh.

Eileen

HI  @annfurnivall   

Yeah well, a little too personal maybe but believe me, all the ‘hats’ I wear make me switch gears too fast many days.  

Over the years I’ve had employees here for my businesses and associates far and wide – just the ebb and flow of normal biz.

The absolute hardest thing I do is finding good (the best I can find) dependable help for his daily care.  I no longer go through agencies as they are way too expensive and most of the money goes to ‘administration’ instead of the person who actually comes here to help me with him.  I pay a better wage to my girls than any agency around – it’s a good deal for them and us too.

On the biz side – I have to be able to set my own hours and once I have met with a client and we’ve decided on a plan of action I let them know my situation and exactly how many hours a day I can dedicate to any particular project. 

Sometimes there are not enough hours to find time to SLEEP. LOL.

You have a great situation there – working and living with your partner. It is what we had planned but of course that all went away with the aneurysm. I do fine on my own though. But of course, nobody here is getting rich either.

Eileen 

I have the luxury of owning an offline business (travel agency) that provides a steady source of income without taking up too much of my time. I now get to focus on building businesses designed around my own schedule..

@annfurnivall I delegate anything that doesn’t interest me. The key for me is knowing that if I don’t delegate these tasks, I’ll procrastinate over them and end up being much more inefficient. So I’m ruthless with it and as a result, things run much better.