Women and Home-Based Businesses
Women who own and operate a home-based business can sometimes find themselves being over burdened.
I started my home-based business because I was finding it difficult to obtain full-time employment. I worked as a temp and thought why not start a business offering my administrative support to other homepreneurs. Most of my clients at the time were general contractors and then slowly I took on other clients.
This worked out well for me because I was also having to take care of an aging parent. There were doctor appointments, personal matters to deal with, care issues. Having my own business provided me with the opportunity to take care of things and deal with any unexpected emergencies. I didn't have children so in a sense my mother became my child as I had to take care of her needs.
This did present problems because I also had a husband who sometimes didn't understand that I was responsible for her as well. We learned to work together and to deal with the situation as best we could. I also had my own household matters to deal with.
Women who have a home business sometimes end up taking on more responsibility not only for their business but, also for household matters, child care and now elder care. We have to also remember that we need to take care of ourselves and ensure that we don't take on more then we can handle.
The best solution I found was to join business networking groups because it gave me an opportunity to meet like minded individuals. I was able to get out of the house and socialize with others which helped to keep me focused.
I believe that the most important thing that women, in particular those of us operating a home-based business need to remember is that it is a business. If we don't treat it like a full fledged business then no one else will.