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Sep
10
I would really like to be able to work from home. I actually don’t mean that in a “I would really like to spend my days surfing Tijuana donkey porn with impunity” way, although clearly that would be nice, especially if you want to search up some of the more hardcore stuff that involves ping-pong balls because wow, talk about hard to explain to your unexpected office guest (“Oh, just doing some research on . . . expulsive physics”), and I realize there would be a lot of downsides to not working in an office. The tendency to allow certain personal ablutions to slide in a horrific manner and developing the shifty, gimlet-eyed gaze of the cave-dwelling hermit are just a couple that come to mind.
I love my routine of getting ready for work and being able to leave my house behind — transitioning, somewhat, out of one aspect of my life and into another. I like being around other adults a few days each week, none of whom require me to spoon puréed banana into their complaining mouths or explain for the hundred billionth time that big boys poop on the potty, not in their Thomas the Tank Engine underwear. I like my coworkers, my office, our building, the chef-prepared lunches and dinners, my hardware budget that allows me to occasionally buy a brand-new computer for home use, the fact that my company is so incredibly flexible.
I don’t, however, like my commute. I don’t like being so far away from daycare during the day, and knowing when I leave I’ve got an hour or more to fight my way home. I don’t like the hectic mornings and dinnertimes that always leave us scrambling and unable to relax with the kids. I don’t like feeling like the house is always a wreck, like between work and being with the kids and exercise and freelance projects I have no energy whatsoever for tackling the chaos in our home.
It’s also true that I often feel very . . . adrift at my office job. I think it’s a combination of me only being there part-time and the way my department is currently set up, but I feel like no one really expects much of anything from me these days. My role is nebulous: sometimes I work on this, sometimes I work on that, but sometimes other people do those things too and nothing is particularly within my own bailiwick anymore. It seems to me that if I were able to continue working for my company from home my role by necessity would have to be defined further, there would have to be concrete deliverables and a way to assess my performance other than “Yeah, I think she was here today. Or was this her day off? Meh, I forget.”
I’m pretty sure I could be about a thousand times more productive working remotely with laptop in hand, either from the ass-dent in my sofa or the local Starbucks. Eliminate my long commute and the need to be semi-presentable each morning, and I’d actually start work about two hours earlier. Give me free rein to complete a series of tasks and get rid of the endless time-wasting bullshit sessions? Who knows how much more I’d get done.
So here’s my dream for 2009: freelance from home. For Workplace, presumably on a contractual basis instead of the employment status I have now, for as many clients as I can sanely take on (edited to clarify: while keeping the kids in daycare part time — holy god, there’s no way I would even want to try and do it otherwise). Meet the new challenges that lifestyle change would bring, take better care of our home and family life.
How about you? What are your career ambitions for the next year or so?
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Neutrogena Revitalizing Lip Balm.
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Voluspa Candle.
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I want to get out of my current crappy-paying first “real” job out of college and find a job where 1) I am paid enough money to move out of my parents’ house since I’ve been squatting for almost two years (FAIL) and 2) the credit for my brilliant ideas goes to me instead of the thieving co-workers in my current office. In 2009 I want to rediscover the joy of working my ass off in a job I love.
Man, I hear ya. I work from home and I totally love it. My one complaint is that I can get distracted by all the little things that need to get done and it cuts into work time. I have to work to stay focussed. Goals for the next year include making more money, get the work out there in a bigger way (I’m an artist), do some public commissions, have a show in NY and apply for some grant money. For the record, I shower and I do get dressed in clean clothes every day. Otherwise it makes me feel weird.
Finish and sell my home software project.
I want to graduate aesthetics school (one more month!!) to become a real esthetician and spend at least the next five years preforming facials, removing hair and perhaps even working for a dermatologist. I just want to get started on this career path.
Regardless, spa certificates for you where ever I land, if you’d have them. (You really deserve it!)
Interesting that you should mention this – my career ambition is to manage working from home more efficiently and successfully. When I thought about working from home originally, I had all these ideals about how fabulously clean my house would be because of course I’d be HERE to stay on top of it all – and yet, I struggle ALOT with trying to figure out how to juggle a 5 month old, and a full time job AND staying on top of all the finances and house stuff. Let’s just say the clean house thing is the first to go because any extra time I have, I’m catching up on work. Sounds crazy to some people I know – but this working from home stuff is harder then it seems. PLUS, you have to deal with the husband who thinks you’re in your pj’s and sitting on the couch watching tv all day. I think he forgets that I actually do WORK.
Listen to me ramble, I could go on and on…but I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to be with my kid AND keep a decent income, so there’s that :)
I’m going to volunteer my ass off until I get hired as a zookeeper. Hopefully sooner than later!
My goal for 2009 is to better juggle being a mom, a full time employee (of a great company with a not so great management team) and not be a total bitch to my kids and husband. Ok, so I’m not a bitch all the time, but I have my moments. I think working from home would be fabulous and I agree with you…..I think I would be so much more productive just doing my job without all of the office politics. I might as well be in the sandbox with my kids : )
eff the career ambitions. career is ok. now we’re trying for a kid. shit, it’s scarier when i write it out.
I’ve worked from home for the past two years and love it. No more commutes (the part I hated the most) and extremely reduced patronage of the coffee houses and restaurants is saving me money. Beyond that I appreciate being able to make my own coffee, snacks and lunch. In my own kitchen. I prefer going for walks in my neighbourhood which is much prettier than the one the office is in. And last but not least, I get to use my own bathroom. This is huge for reasons I won’t go into that concern certain colleagues.
At noon I can do a workout or a yoga session and lie on the carpet to stretch sore muscles as I need to. (A back and neck injury is the reason I was set up to work at home.)
When I turn off the computer at the end of the day I’m already home. And yes, I’m able to leave it behind.
I don’t have kids so I’m not sure how it would be for someone who does but if they are in daycare, that would solve the problem of constant interruptions (hope I don’t catch hell for saying that).
I get way more work done at home than I ever did at the office because I have fewer interruptions.
If I want or need the office, a cube is still reserved for me, but it’s hugely pleasant having the option of working remotely.
I would write all the pros and cons about my work at home gig but I just finished the European clip and it’s 12:39 am. My house is a pit, I can’t remember if I brushed my teeth today, and I’m pretty sure I can smell myself. I went outside once today, in the same clothes I slept in, to walk the dog. Of course, I was home working when my son said to me, “Wow wow! Nice glasses!” And I get wet sloppy kisses all day long – from all of my boys, the dog included. So there’s that. I’m passing out now, in the same clothes I wore to bed last night. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll carve out the time to shower so I don’t offend the dog.
My career ambitions for the next year? to not kill myself while working two jobs and going to grad school part time at night? Sadly, that’s all i’ve got.
but when i’m done with my mba, I’d love to just pick up, move to Vegas, and get a job in Financial Analysis at one of the big casinos.
My general approach to all things career is to just keep re-evaluating and not to be afriad to change it up if it’s not working. So, in 2009, I actually have two pretty broad goals:
1) Complete my transition from full-time director for a great company to part-time “individual contributor” for the same great company (working for my replacement!!).
Sure, this could be a real nightmare for all involved but crossing my fingers that it’s worth the risk to be home a few days a week with my son while also keeping my foot in the door. My commute from NJ to Lower Manhattan is a ball buster so I guess reducing the time spent on the train is like a career goal.
2) Work very hard to develop a business idea that has been brewing for several years. I only recently had the epiphany that no one is going to start this thing for me and it’s okay to try something and move on if it doesn’t work! (It only took 15 years of corporate slave labor to teach me this little pearl of wisdom!)
(www.twoandahalftravelers.com).
I love my job…BUT I am a teacher and I have a whopping 10 minute commute. Also, my daughter attends the school where I work and my son will join us next year when he is in kindergarten. So, I am very lucky and in a unique situation. I always have these grand ideas each summer (when I don’t work) that my house will be spotless! Scrapbooks completed! Homecooked meals every day! But, realistically, it is HARD to do all of that with 2 kids at home. And, sometimes I get a day to work at home (paperwork to do) and I never get much accomplished. I feel guilty not doing the laundry, mopping the floors, etc. Ususally on those days, I choose to go to a coffe house or a libray to work AND I make sure my kids are not a home. So, for me, working at home is not an option. However, I wish you all the best to make your situation the best for you :) Good luck!
1) Get promoted. My workplace has a policy that you have to be “doing” a new job for 6 months before they can promote you to the new position, and I have been doing my new job for TWO YEARS. There was only room in the budget for one double promotion, and I was supposed to get 2 (for a total of four hops up the ladder). So I’m waiting for the 2nd one and hopefully it will happen this year. I’m tired of not getting paid to do my job! I’m losing out on about $10k/yr.
2) Move to dayshift. After 4 years of working the nightshift, I’m done. Really done. I want to move to dayshift and I’m going to actively pursue every single option available to do so until I get there. I WANT A BABY, and I cannot have one while I am nightshift. :P
3) Take classes. Specifically looking at a professional program through Rutgers in Jan 09, also possibly thinking of going back to ‘real’ school in fall of 2009. We’ll see.
my job pays my grad school tuition, so I have to stick with it until spring 2009. but I, too, want to work from home. however, I’m slowly breaking into a new field (sorta) and I realize that I probably won’t be able just plop my butt at the desk in my dining room and be like, “I’ll just watch the money pile up!” but I’ll be a professional/technical writer and I like to think that I’ll be in a position to telecommute in a few years.
Working from home is great, but it can also slowly drain the life out of you. I did it for a year (when my first was born) and it was more stressful than actually being at the office. It’s frustrating when you need something from someone right away and you can’t just walk over to their office, you have to wait for them to answer the phone or email.
When I worked from home, I tried too hard to balance the time. I felt bad if I stuck the kid in the exersaucer to get work done and I felt bad if I was playing with the kid when there was work to do.
If you can do it without the kids there, great. It’s nice to not have to change out of your boxers and t-shirt all day.
In a perfect world I wouldn’t have to work. So there’s that dream. But assuming I will still have to in ‘09 I’d like to work for a company with kick ass benefits, making $20K more without a long commute. Inside sales or marketing, since that’s pretty much what I do now, but if it were relating to helping children or animals in some way that would be even better. Oh, and some freelance gigs too if that’s not too large an order! :-)
I already work from home and make decent (for a 24 year old with no degree…) money, so I don’t know why on earth I want to pursue anything else, but I do. So I am going to begin school in the Spring, get my associates so that I can start volunteering and getting experience in my field (social work, counseling, case management, etc.) and then once I have enough experience to get an entry level position, I’ll go back to school and get my bachelors. The beautiful thing about my job now is that, if you go to school for a field that they have up and running, they will pay for it. And since they pay for it counting on being able to use you one day, I will basically already be able to have a job without much effort. :)
I really hope that works out for you, it sounds smart. I think it’s also smart to leave your house a little bit, too, but that’s coming from a SAHM who does a little too much S’ing at H.
Don’t laugh but I am hoping to get a few more part time jobs after January. In January, my daughter will be one and will be finished with the total PITA that is nursing a baby who will not take a bottle. So I’m hoping to maybe get a bartending/waitressing job one or two nights a week when my husband can put them both to bed. And I’d like to get a few more houses to clean. I’d like to have more money than I do, just money of my own and also I’d like some feeling of accomplishment. With both waitressing and housecleaning, I feel there is a real set to do list from which I can check off items. This helps me sleep better.
Then the next January, once she’s two and my son is four, maybe I’ll get her in a mom’s day out type situation and, unless I have another kid by then (LORD help me!), I could possibly ever be alone in my house. Oh, the napping I would do! :)
I hope to be able to semi-retire and only work 20 hours a week. I can still receive full benefits and only have to work 2-3 days a week. It’s actually financially possible right now, but I have certain obligations here at work for a while yet.
It does sound like you have the perfect job to do from home, although it always looked like you had the perfect office to go into as well. While working from home takes a lot of self-discipline, we know you’ve got plenty of that!
I work for myself from home as a Kitchen Designer, and things have slowed down so much that I think we are going to have to cancel daycare, which basically means I’ll be doomed for 2009, as least career-wise. Which is ironic, because my one goal would be to make a lot more money.
I will be graduating from law school and taking the Bar exam in July 2009, so my career goal is to pass the test so that I may begin a career, already. I’m 32, single, and so ready to be out of college. More than career goals, I’m wondering how I will manage to find, create, build and manage a family outside of being a lawyer. Should be interesting!
Also, I have a brother and sister-in-law who have both chosen to work from home, and they love it. They don’t have any small kids, though, which makes it easier for them to focus their attention, each in their own little home offices.
I send you courage and fortitude in making the change!
I used to really want to teach high school until Florida budget cuts made that dream a shattered reality of crushing proportions. So now, my main goal is to stick with the measly paying job I have but tack on some online instruction. There’s a lot of online universities for which my masters qualifies me. It’ll make my nights a little busier but the extra cash will make weekends more bearable.
Good luck with your work from home goal!
Immediate goal: find more work to do! My position is brand new in my company, and the first 6 months I was pretty busy with projects & research, but now it’s starting to slow a little and I’m starting to get a little bored with it.
Long term goals: once my hubby is done with his degree, it’s HIS turn to be the breadwinner! At that point it’ll all depend on where he finds a job, but if we can get back out to Seattle (we’re in Toledo, Ohio right now… YUCK) that would be my dream.
This is actually very real for me because I have a lot of changes to look forward to in the next year. I am retiring in the spring after twenty years of being a school librarian and am young enough (56 is looking younger and younger to me)to really accomplish what I would like to do – write more. I have a dream of doing a lot of freelance writing (already doing some), expanding my two blogs (making one pay, hopefully) and creating a travel blog which would also make money. We’ll see. I am excited about it all.
I feel adrift in my job, and I’m here full-time. It’s a great job with a great company, but my heart’s not in it. So, I’m just about to start my second CFP (certified financial planner) course, although the idea of actually advising people about their finances kind of terrifies me. What if I’m wrong? I’m also hoping to reduce my hours slightly when my son starts kindergarten next fall so I can be there to pick him up right when school lets out.
I relate to everything you said here. I would love but also fear the ability to work from home. I’m afraid I don’t trust myself enough to do a good job at it.
My career ambitions are to, um. Hmmm. You know, I need to GET some career ambitions. I guess I’ve been in survival mode for so long, I’ve forgetten to have a long-term picture in my head of where I’m going.
I have grand dreams of opening my own bakery. So a month or so ago I sat in Panera, wrote down a list of goals. I broke them down into 3 and 6 month increments for almost three years. The hardest part is that my husband is getting his PhD right now, so it kind of slides to the back burner. But, I am doing what I can now. I just started my food blog a bit ago. I am posting as a food contributor to Blissfully Domestic and I keep plugging away at that list.
Hm, I think there is “something in the water.” I have been in this place all week and your blog is the 2nd today to talk about this.
I dont know what I want or need right now. My boy is about to turn 1 and Im home, and I am bored. Is this another phase or something to deal with? I thought we would be close to trying for #2 and I’m not ready, so now what? I need to decide. I need more than crawling after, picking up cheerios, wiping ass, peek-a-boo- but do I have the pair to admit it? That this life I was waiting for and wanted so badly is making me crazy.
Thanks for asking me to think about it.
I work from home on a contractual basis and it rocks. My goal for the next year is to start my own business. I want to keep my current job and put my business idea into practice on a part time basis, hopefully having it become a huge success to where I can eventually do it full time.
To get my novel published by a major house. Or die trying.
Bring my money-cow invention to life… although I’m in pretty much the same boat you are with time and work and kids and commutes, etc, that I just don’t see where I’ll find any kind of time to put toward development. Oh well.
[...] busy. Me too. September 11, 2008 Posted by allstarme in Blogging goodness, contemplation. trackback Hits have remained about the same but commenting is at a lull. I know we’re all pretty busyand I myself go through phases of feeling like and absolutely not wanting to comment AT ALL. Though I read many good posts in a day from some of my most favorite sites, I just don’t express an opinion. I try to keep up because I know that commenting helps bring readers to my site, which – I hope – makes some kind of difference in this realm of the blogosphere. [...]
Pass the horticulure exam I’m due to take next June which I’ve just started studying for and be in a part-time, three day a week ‘proper’, office-based job which requires a certain amount of making myself look presentable. This is in comparison to the current state of affairs whereby I airily state I do freelance work within the book publishing industry which I occasionally cast my eye over in between drinking tea, cruising Ebay, blogs and getting dirt under my fingernails in the garden and looking like I was dragged through a hedge backwards.
If I could create a world in which the consequences only applied to me and did not negatively impact the lives of others I would wish for the part time professional librarian to retire from her job at the school where I used to teach. I would start that part time job next fall, when my daughter would be old enough to start attending the school. My mother-in-law would also be thrilled to watch our littlest one while I worked my part time job. And I would flawlessly manage to run the house and be successful at work. Or at least manage it without totally losing my mind.
Promote my childbirth classes… get the word out there more. If I can fill each class then I might be able to think about giving up my second job as an editor (work from home) which I HATE. Not because I hate the work, but because I get no love from the company or the boss. Including turning down the 3% inflation raise I asked for, after I’ve been working for them for 1.5 years and got a 100% outstanding performance review. AAARGH.
I may have to quit it anyway when baby #2 arrives, but we’ll see.
I work from home freelance. I’m busy as shit, especially now that I’m sick most of the time and can’t focus the way I used to, but I mostly enjoy it. I will say that I save a TON of money, because I don’t eat out for lunch anymore, and I’m not spending $6 a day on lattes.
However. I miss people. I hate conference calls, and just once, I’d like to attend a meeting in person, in a cute outfit and get it done in half the time that a conference call takes. I also miss the structure of a real job — of a defined start and end time, and of a day that doesn’t feel that my laptop is surgically attached to my pelvis.
In 2009, I want to take more time to work on my personal writing projects, figure out how to accurately juggle freelancing with a baby, take a self-imposed maternity leave and get used to my new life. Career, in all of that, is sort of last, because at the beginning of ‘09, I’m getting dealt a totally different hand. I’ll probably have a better answer to this question in ‘10.
I would like to have the courage to actually retire instead of talk about it for year on end. I would also like to publish this damn book that keeps me from ever blogging again. And before you consider working at home, you might want to consider the size of your Auntie’s ass.
Sadly, I don’t know what I want. I’ll be 30 next year and hopefully pregnant with our second child. I work in a very specialized field, litigation technology, and I know that I could find a decent job working from home. But part of what I love about my career is traveling to do trials, going to conferences and whatnot. If I worked from home, I’d be losing a lot of that part of my job, and that makes me hesitate. Factor in that we live in a small city in South Carolina, and that I’m paid well enough that I’ve priced myself out of the market, and well… it doesn’t seem like I have much of a choice. I’d LOVE to start my own consulting business but I can’t see doing that for at least 3-5 more years and that will be totally dependent on the economy. So my 2009 goals are to stay where I am and make the best of what I have.
Oh, Linda, what a timely topic. Just last night, I was in tears on my couch because I just hate my job so much. It’s my first job out of grad school (actually, the same degree kdiddy’s working towards–hello, fellow mapw!), and yes, I’m happy to have the job and the benefits in today’s economy but damn, it’s sucking my will to live. I thought I could deal with the world of IT, I’m dorky in my own right, but I work with people that are truly anti-social, introverted individuals, and I am a “people person”(bleh, I hate that phrase). I sit in my office for 8 hours a day, trying to muster the energy to do my work, and I rarely even *speak* to anyone! I get home completely exhausted by the lack of social interaction and mental stimulation, and my husband wonders what he can do to make me happy. Ugh. Sucks.
It’s crazy–I’m 25, and I feel like I’ve totally settled for my first job, and even though I’m completely unhappy here, I’m terrified to jump into something new. sigh.
Lately, I’ve been trying to figure out how to dive into the world of freelancing
(editing and copy writing or simply creating content) because I’d like more autonomy, but I really don’t know how/where to start. Any suggestions? Anyone? Please.
I work in an office where I answer the phone and input data full time as I slowly creep towards graduation. My plans for the next year involve getting OUT of the office and finally doing what my degree calls for!!
Funny. I JUST started working from home one day a week and yesterday was my first day. It felt so GOOD to not have to get up and leave. I COULD work earlier and later and still get a load of laundry in during the middle.
I’m not yet sure about next year. Hubby just started his own business and I didn’t realize how much of a toll it would take on me (selfish much?). Now in addition to my job, and cooking and cleaning, and teh whole routine thing with the 18 month and 4 year old, I have invoicing and deposit drops and all that with his business. Its really, really stressful and I need to carve out time for me. I hope next year all that will calm down some and we’ll be into a groove.
I would give anything to be able to work from home, as I presently drive about 1 hour each way to and from work and it’s really wearing on me. There are a few members of our team that have the privilege to work from home but unfortunately they haven’t extended that to everyone. I’ll admit it has caused a lot of resentment. Especially when they tell you they are working in their pajamas…
To get one. A career, that is.
I want to continue freelance writing from home, but with the help of a nanny one day a week because hoo boy, my deadlines AND taking care of Wito 24/7 is taking a major toll on my sanity.
Lets see.. Career Goals for 2009.
Get a Job.
Yup. That’s about it. You see, I’m a Senior Digital Arts Student who hasn’t even had her first show yet. *crickets* Who wants to be an illustrator. *crickets* Who doesn’t like to model or animate. *crickets*
Yeah. I’m gonna have fun with this..
I am lucky enough that I do work from home three days a week and have the enjoyment of going into the office in real clothes (With Button! And zippers!) and talk to other adults, have someone make ME lunch two days a week. I also have a horrid commute, over 53 miles, but I try and view that as a way to pump myself up for the day or decompress after it.
Working from home on a continual basis has it’s drawbacks though. You’re never done. You can never walk out of your office and away for the day. Something always needs to be done. Someone always needs something of you.
I wouldn’t trade it for anything because I get to be home for my kids or close to their dayhome, but it’s rough being pulled in 97 different directions at once. Whereas in the office, I’m just the one me.
Interesting timing for this question. This has been at the forefront of my mind for several months now. I want the same. To be able to keep my current job that I have worked very hard at to build rapport with over 1,000 stakeholders and get the Program to a point where it effectively and efficiently runs, but do it from home (I have a hellish commute also). I too would be more productive, I know it. However, I work for the government, and although we are in a “crisis” at the moment because over half of state employees in my state will retire in the next 5-10 years and our governor is seeking ideas to attract and keep younger employees, telecommuting is not an option. WTF? Unfortunately I have sort of a niche position in my field and there are not other positions similar to this in the whole damn state. I am now battling starting some sort of new business from my home and leaping into unstableness or completely changing careers. My goal is to have this figured out by the time I am done with maternity leave in February 2009. Sorry for the novel…
I live on a mini-farm, and if I could find a way to actually make a living sitting on my ass on the farm, or doing the putzy little things I do there with the cows, and chickens, I totally would.
That, however, is unlikely. Very unlikely.
So…having just moved into the country five months ago, and still commuting 110 miles a day back to my software job in Gig Harbor (I must be insane)…I’d love to find work closer to home – say, Olympia – doing something that helps me feel like I’m contributing to my community, rather than making money for someone else.
I’d like to finish my book and start a new one.
Find a new job. Sadly, can’t stand where I’m at right now.
I’m trying to find my way into the freelance world as well. A couple pieces of advice if they’re at all possible: have a workspace in your home that is a no-kids-allowed area (I know, I know, yeah right). Have a space in your home where you can just relax, have some coffee, and read a book or something without looking at your workspace. If it’s any comfort, so far I haven’t started scratching my armpits in public. Good luck!
I want to move to Austin, but barring that I want a fat raise at my current job.
Or both.
I am really trying to launch a freelance writing gig from my home. I’m currently a stay at home (trying to work) to an almost 9 month old baby and I have NO childcare at all. It is basically IMPOSSIBLE. (keep that part-time daycare) I don’t make enough to leverage or even argue for childcare, in home or off-site. Bah.
I just wrote yesterday about how bummed out and drained I am trying to do both and I’m not even sure I want to keep trying. I want to be a MOM and I want to be a WRITER but I think I have to be a MOM before I can be a WRITER. I’m struggling to negotiate how much of my own wants I am “allowed” to have right now. Am confused.
Thanks for validating my own struggles by revealing your own. I don’t feel so alone anymore.
I, too am EXHAUSTED at the end of the day, unlike you though, I don’t manage to have time each day for exercise. I’m working on that one. Props to you for that one!
Good Luck to you – I really hope you can master your domain … I’m certainly trying.
My career goals for 2009 are currently in a state of chaos, as I am expecting my first baby in December, have been told that working from home is not an option at current workplace, and with every day closer to the birth I can no longer fathom putting our baby in full time daycare. I am hoping that in the next few months, I will be able to find a position with a new company that will allow me to work from home on a part-time basis, pay me a suitable wage, and above all is family friendly and understands that you can successfully balance motherhood and a career. Then after a few years, I will return to full time work (preferably still working from home, because commuting 2 hours each day SUCKS) and become a well-paid professional success.
Optimism rocks.
Oh lordy-lordy. Big subject in my mind lately. I wasted my 20s being all “I don’t know what I want to do,” “Who am I?,” and “I don’t know where to start.” Now I’m 30, have a husband, baby, and house…just now taking a serious look at my dismal job situation. Resume is heavy on the basic office-type jobs, but I can draw. Never had a career, really. So, Life Ambitions for 2009 (starting in 2008)? 1) praypraypray that my job accepts proposed schedule change so I can stay home with behbeh during the day and work 3-4 hours at night most of the week, 2) eliminate EVIL DAYCARE costs, 3) start to claw our way out of the hole, 4) create work space in home and acquire equipment needed for home-based business idea involving husband’s graphic design skillz and my illustration skillz for screen printing pretty things to sell on etsy (cliché, no?). *sigh*
By the by, thanks for responding to husband, Dan, about camera q’s, and for the compliments about our poopling, Calvin.
I think that sounds completely do-able, maybe you could make an appearance in the office a couple times a month just so you can get dressed up for work ;)
As you know, I have NO idea what I want, staying home full-time is beginning to wear on me.
Here’s our problem, I quit my job almost 1 year ago because I’am married to a third shifter, who happens to get alot of overtime, so we never know when he will be home for sure. With three kids and the cost of daycare (and no family in our area, at all to help) it wasn’t working out. I would LOVE to do something from home, so I guess my question is…how does everyone find at home jobs, I would love any advice on this!
Email me if you have any suggestions please hclaire05 at hotmail dot com
Thanks!
I was recently promoted, so over this coming year I want to really grow into this role and form a good, productive team. I want to get better at motivating and coaching them and help my company through some pretty big changes we have ahead.
Since I’m about to have a baby in 2-3 weeks (give or take) and returning to work in January, 2009 is going to be a big change for me. My goal will be learning to be productive while balancing a baby and work. Of course, I’m starting to learn from reading a lot of blogs is that there really is no such thing as balance.
This will mean nothing to you in some ways but to become a senior consultant (this is FINALLY in reach after five years) which means a huge “raise”. Then I would like to make at minimum 15 placements which along with a huge raise means I will make well over $150k. I do not mind working full time right now since the goal is to be retired in 10 years for both myself and my husband.
Jennifer: don’t be discouraged. I believe there is such a thing as balance between family and work and personal pursuits — you just have to work for it. Hard. It’s always shifting, and some days are better than others, but (for me, anyway) I feel it’s an integral part of feeling happy in parenthood to really push to find that balance.
I’m suppose to have career ambitions for the next year or so?
Oh shit.
The commute is definitely the worst part of my day too, but I recently found a way around it. If I get to the office late (10 a.m.) and leave early (4 p.m.), I can get to work in just 15 minutes instead of 45. That means that I have to do some work from home, but I find that I’m mentally better able to deal with that than to deal with sitting in traffic when I know I could be spending that time more productively.
When I go part-time after Wombat is born, I hope I can swing the same sort of thing. Instead of working three eight-hour days per week, I’m going to try four or five shorter shifts that will allow me to skip the traffic. That, plus going to work every day is more likely to mean I’m also showering regularly, is what I hope to achieve.
Bailiwick…that’s a great word and it is used so rarely! :)
I am currently potty-training Keith, who will be 3 in Nov. Thomas the Tank Engine undies get pooped in at our house, too!
I’m working on my prevention certification so that’s my main career goal for 2009. What you have planned sounds do-able. I hope it works out for you.
“I often feel very . . . adrift at my office job… I feel like no one really expects much of anything from me these days.”
I took a 2-year leave from my excellent engineering job to go to graduate school and this is exactly how I felt when I went back to work. 6 months later I knew that I really had it in me to work independently and quit to work on my own.
You’ve named all the pitfalls that I fell into and have since worked out. Now – 8 years later- I couldn’t have it any other way.
That said, my “career” goals for the near future are to spend more time working on my life rather than job. By that I mean growing some of my own food, cooking even more, and making things (sewing, rehab furniture, etc.) rather than buying them.
It’s funny that you write this today, because I just had a meeting this morning at the office of a company for which I do contract work. It took almost two hours to get there, but when I walked in the door I found myself *missing* that environment; that of young, enthusiastic professionals that I enjoyed in the dotcom boom of the late 90’s.
I have several part time contract jobs that I do from home, and I really think I would like it IF my kids were in daycare or school. When I took on all these jobs, I never imagined how hard it would be when you’ve got two babies trying to crawl into your lap or begging for your attention.
It sucks, because the whole reason I wanted to stay home with my kids was so that I could spend time with them, but I’m unable to do so nearly as much as I would like because of the demands of my multiple jobs. And forget keeping the house clean – I just totally gave up on that!
So now I find myself daydreaming and actually trying to crunch some numbers to see what it would take for me to go back to work full time and put the kids in day care/preschool. I don’t really forsee that happening, because it would require me to make way more money than I think anyone would be willing to pay me for what I do, but who knows? Maybe I’ll crunch some more numbers :)
actually, my career ambitions are actually for my husband, in that he manages to KEEP a job for more than 6 months so that i can quit 1 or 2 of my jobs. for myself, i have no real career plans. i just plan on working as a typing peon for the next 20 to 30 years and then maybe dying. or moving somewhere warmer. whichever comes first.
I would LOVE to pick up a freelance writing/blogging job sometime over the next year.
I’m happy in my day job and I can’t forsee changing anything about it right now. Maybe when I have kids I’d like to cut down my hours but in order to afford that I’d have to pick up some kind of freelance writing work and/or grow my Etsy shop. The Etsy shop is on track . . . just got to keep plugging away :)
Funny you should mention this, as I just faxed over my new-hire packet. Same project, different (better) contract company. In 2009 I hope to being doing some things like taking PAID vacations and Paid sick days and PAID holidays. But I also hope that there is a new project for me out there cause I am sooooo tired of this one.
Also, I totally understand the missing baliwick of working part-time. I had the perfect part-time gig but I couldn’t stand that they wouldn’t let me be responsible for anything. I felt like the guy that comes to empty the trash, you know?
To get my photography business off the ground. And break even on the equipment I’ve picked up so far.
I’m applying for an internship that would start in January at This American Life, which is one of my favorite things in the world. There is no way I would get this internship, but it’s one of those “dream career” ideals I can’t help but try for.
I know I won’t get it. I know I won’t! Of course, occasionally I think to myself, “What if…?” And then I promptly begin panicking, because I’m not smart enough or thoughtful enough or COOL enough to work for TAL!
My career goal for 2009 is to try and figure out what job I would love as much as I think I would love an internship at This American Life. And, just in case hell freezes over and they do pick me, my goal is to not to freak out for the entire six months in the internship. Because that would not be a productive use of my time.
I know just how you feel with the commute. My workplace has been so very flexible, and my (only) kid is in gradeschool now, but still I feel the pinch constantly — there just not enough time at home because of the hourlong commute each way. My work can’t be done at home for the most part, so I don’t have a choice, but on the other hand I treasure the time among workfriends and having non-familial adult interactions every single day. Plus feeling important for things beyond the pokemon knowledge and the fastest way to make a grilled-cheese.
I also have no self-discipline to speak of, so working from home would be an epic fiasco. What I need is for my workplace to move to a spot 6 blocks from my house. Stupid stupid school districting.
At age 35 I just started the job that I’ve been training for for the last 7 years: primary care doctor. It’s pretty much what I thought it would be: although the office is slightly more dysfunctional than I anticipated, the workload is not as heavy. Right now I’m trying to figure out four interconnected long-term career issues, to wit:
1) Are we going to stay where we are or move across the country in a year or two to Seattle to be near my family?
2) What is my husband going to be doing? (He’s between jobs right now–does he try to establish a new career where we are or find something temporary till we move–if we move?)
3) Do I want to do specialty training? Primary care is kind of a dead-end road these days, but the specialties I like don’t pay much better and it would be another 2-3 years of long hours and low salary.
4) Should we have a baby? If so, when?
Hopefully we’ll have an answer for a couple of these in the next year or so.
I quit my job. I plan on starting my own at home business – well, all the prep is happening – launch is waiting on some tech issues. November will bring my final day, and then I’ll hopefully be able to focus more on my family and home, and not be split all which ways.
With the birth of my first baby (in 5 weeks, holy shit), my plan is to also do freelance from home starting in 2009. I do the PR, marketing thing as well except in the social service sector and on the other side of the Cascades.
To surf Tijuana donkey porn with impunity.
Oh, I love that! Good luck! I totally know you can do that. And thanks for putting the challenge out there for us to stop and think about our own goals. Mine is to start up my own photography business. It’s a way for me to be home with the kids and also helped support us in this pretty-much-necessary-to-have-both-parents-working economy.
I’m a high school teacher who got slammed (on August 1st) with a new curriculum.
I want to regain my sanity and feel like I’m teaching again, instead of just spouting off random geography/world history terminology.
The last sentence in your first paragraph? Yeah, that’s me. I’ve been working from home for 11 years. Personal hygiene aside, working at home is a perfect situation for me. I am very productive but I love the flexibility. I do have a problem NOT working, though, because we all work at home so my coworkers and I have lost our boundaries between home and work.
I just want to keep my job! I work at a Chevy dealer processing their warranty claims and the economy is killing us. Nobody wants a big ass truck when it takes a thousand bucks to fill it. Can’t say I blame them (and I drive Honda’s…shhh) but it still sucks and I took a 20K a year paycut in May. Thing is, I only go into the office twice a week so I can’t complain. I am also pregnant with my second, so I think I am going to wait until he/she is about 6 months old before I start thinking if I want to find a job closer to home (current commute is an hour drive each way with no traffic). I have been at my job for 8 years though, so it’s alot to think about.
I work from home 75% of the time and love it. I make the four-hour round trip to my office one day a week, then work from home three days a week, and have a three-day weekend with my son. I’m a salaried employee with my company, not a contractor.
I know some people work from home and watch their kids at the same time. I don’t know how they make that work — I know when I try to do both, either the work or the kid end up suffering.
Even though my son is at daycare four days a week, I’m less than five minutes from the sitter’s place, so he’s home with me by 5:15 and we’re able to have a leisurely family evening together. And not like I can do any real housework while I’m home during the day, but I can push the button on the robot vacuum, switch the laundry, let the plumber in the house, or take something out of the freezer to thaw for dinner.
As you can tell, I’m a huge fan of this arrangement and I hope something similar works out for you. You will love it.
Oh, I forgot the “what’s in it for my boss” part. I am so much more productive from home than from the office. And this telecommuting arrangement is so positive for me that I am an extremely dedicated employee — their flexibility with me makes me want to give them my best work, and would make me hard-pressed to leave anytime soon.
My husband and I are relocating to Charlotte, NC in six weeks and I’ve got about 90% of my plan in place to open a fitness boot camp and have that be my full-time job. Eventually I’d love to have upwards of 6 camps, enough to allow me to have employees and exceed the salary I have now. I despise working for the man, commutes, mandatory 8-5s, and everything about the rat race. I’m tired of it and I feel that this is just meant to be. I cannot wait for this to happen. Franchise life, here I come!
We emailed a while back about my sad state of affairs at work. Well, I still don’t have benefits, but I am making it work with 2 days a week. I even asked for AND RECEIVED a raise! Slogging through until the economy rebounds enough for me to find a job at another place.
my career aspirations are to become an uber famous anonymous blogger bringing in riches while sitting here with my hair unbrushed and spinach in my teeth. I am so over having to get ‘presentable’ every day…
I work from home (used to have a local office that I could go into – now that too has been eliminated as a cost saving measure), and here are my own personal pluses and minuses associated with it…
PLUSES –
* I don’t have to spend time showering and getting ready each and every morning.
* Working from home in sweats, shorts, tshirts, etc. is nice
* Able to do quick errand runs (grocery, Target, Home Depot, Costco) in the middle of the day and avoid “errand rush hour” for everyone else.
* No longer need to fret about an impending “bio-break” during a meeting – can put my phone on mute and continue on a conference call (gross, I know)
* I am nearby to do modest cleaning, laundry, etc. around the house.
* I’m near daycare, and could drop in at anytime (although I have NEVER done this – and not sure if or why I ever would)
* Doctor appts – can schedule and take kids to planned or impromptu appointments without taking too too much time out of the day.
MINUSES
* Proximity. Because I am home, I therefore inherit the responsibility of making dinner each night, taking kids to daycare and picking them up (since I’m not as tied to a schedule as my commuting wife), errands, laundry, etc. So while it seems that a lack of need to get ready and drive somewhere in traffic is a huge plus (and it is), you will probably find that time gets filled with other responsibilities.
* Showering – it plummets on the priority list. I know I need to shower when my beard gets too long. I had a neighbor who recently started working from home too – and she too was AMAZED at how hygiene became a much lower priority.
* Getting dressed. While I love slumming, I know my wife wishes that I would still “dress up” – even though there is no one I will be seeing during the course of the day.
* Hallway chatter – I miss seeing people in the hallways of an office. Anyone. It amazes me how much information and contacts I would unintentionally gleam from these impromptu conversations and strolls through the hallways of an office environment.
* The silence in the house can be DEAFENING. I find at times when I really need to get things done, I go to a Starbucks for the background noise so that I can concentrate. Its easy to find yourself in a spot where work requirements have PILED up, and it is at that time that you rationalize that NOW is the time to clear the clutter in the living room. That is just ass-backwards from how its supposed to be, isn’t it?
* It very easy to work outside of your normal working hours. Work, pick up kids, feed family, get everyone to bed, and then just walk over to your workstation and pick it up again. You really need to be diligent with defining and sticking to your work hours, and non-work hours. I also think having a dedicated room/area of the house for work is important. If you work everywhere in your house, then you can never find a place to escape work.
In the end, despite my long list of negatives, I do appreciate the flexibility that working from home allows for me. My ideal scenario would be to work from home, but have a local office that I could occasionally go to – just to “check in”.
And while there are times when I loathe and question what exactly it is that I am doing with my life and my career, it is this work environment that is a huge plus that I would hate to risk losing by pursuing other – perhaps more stimulating and rewarding – career opportunities. There are other reasons too that cause me to not want to look elsewhere, but that is a biggy.
Anyway – that’s my own personal perspective….
Wow! what timing. (I found you through a link on dadgonemad.) We just returned from a 3 week holiday; for some reason I make grand plans while riding on trains and planes.
My grand plan is not to be content with the part time income I have from my part time endeavors but to shoot for the stars. And that means diversifying. My current work involves selling physical products so that means being home to ship the products.
This spring I wrote a book about doing your first triathlon. That is the sort of thing I need to do more of. I’ve just come across an opportunity to be an on-line fitness coach,maybe that is a good start.
Even in the corporate world I was in sales so I’m comfortable being directly responsible for my income. I’m at risk of rambling so I’ll quit. But… by this time next year, I’ve got big plans too.
Lori
Linda, you can do this! I believe in you.
My own objective, since you asked, is a lot more vague. I’m almost halfway through my yearlong mat leave from work (yes, I’m in Canada, we get more than 12 weeks leave which is *damn* nice). When I return, I have no idea what I’m returning to, as the place I work for is undergoing drastic changes that are basically going to eliminate my job. No fears of unemployment, since I’m in a union and they have to provide me with *something*, but if I want the job I go back to to be something I actually want, I have to look and apply for internal positions now. Which I am trying my best to do, what with having no access to our work intranet and being busy looking after an infant. Yeah, that’s going well.
My career objective for the next year is to find something that’s worth being away from my daughter for. I only want to work part-time, and I want my other days to be useful and at least somewhat challenging/rewarding. The job that’s being eliminated often saw me sitting at the computer for hours a day, surfing the web, with no work to do. If I’m going to leave my daughter in daycare, I’d rather it was to do something a little more important than that.
Well, my company is currently going through layoffs, which on one hand freaks me out, and on the other hand (which is higher in the air) it sikes me that I would have a more reason to be a stay at home mom.
But because of this SUCKY economy right now, we would never be able to do it because my DH doesn’t get health insurance through his work, so I would be forced to find another job and at this point, I believe I would change my career choice and try something totally different, but with more anxiety.
I know, I’m foolish!
Good Luck Linda with your career dreams for 2009.
I aspire to keep my job for another year. Not losing it in the middle of my uncertain and tumultuous future would be a damn miracle, and it would make this the longest I have ever worked at one place. So not much of an aspiration on paper, but when you’re down here in the thick of the trenches that my life often resembles, it’s a pretty lofty ambition.
Can I just say it again? Please!
“Four Hour Work Week” by Tim Ferris. He’s my other Hero (along with you!).
I’ve just recently found the site AND bought the book and am starting with some of the (scary) steps. But this lifestyle (with partner and children) is my goal. And how cool for a kid to grow up with these experiences?
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