Family Life or Career - Do we Have to Choose?

Family Life or Career - Do we Have to Choose?It's finally happened. Your new baby has arrived!! Friends and family soon join you to coo over the new addition. No sooner have the sparkling grape juice corks stopped popping than the questions start. How was the birth? Have you got any names picked out? When are you going to go back to work?

Unfortunately, society encourages women to focus, to narrow their choices. "Pick one," they say, expecting us to stick with it our whole life. There is also the designed-to-produce-guilt refrain, "You can't be a stay-at-home mum and have a career, too". Thankfully, they' are wrong. In fact, you can be a stay-at-home mum, and even own your own business. Kim Bassett, from New South Wales, has done just that.

"I was a single mum and a teacher - but found that I hated having to live my life around someone else's schedule and I could see that no matter how hard I worked as a teacher - I was always going to be struggling for money. This business has been the best thing that has ever happened to me. It took me 43 years to find something that excited me and motivated me - and I still find it hard to believe that I bounce out of bed every morning and can hardly wait to "commute" to my office at the other end of the house!"
- Kim Bassett

So why work from home? The reasons are many, and will differ from person to person. For those of us with families however, there are a few common motivators.

1. To be with the family. Careers outside of the home not only take you away from the family while you are sitting at your desk, but travel time can also add up to two extra hours per day.
2. To reduce stress. Juggling a career outside the home, with family life can be incredibly stressful. If a child is sick, arrangements need to be made at short notice, either for time off work, or a sitter. There is also the guilt-ridden stress of choosing between family events, such as the all important soccer match, and the urgent board room meeting called at late notice. Although day-care arrangements may be needed to help you concentrate on the task at hand, there is more flexibility when you are the boss.
3. For personal sanity. Lets face it. Being at home 24/7 with the kids can be hard work, but for some of us, it's not enough. We need that intellectual stimulation that is difficult to obtain while reading Bananas in Pyjamas for the 15th time!!!
4. Financial Gain. For a lot of us, an extra $500 per month can make a huge difference to our lifestyle. And with the potential to really be paid what you are worth, and rewarded for your own efforts, more and more parents are able to make a full time career income while still spending valuable time with their families.

Working from home is not for everybody, so how can you tell if it's for you?
Take this short test:

• Are you goal orientated and can you motivate yourself?
• Do you have a willingness to learn and improve your skills?
• Are you willing to work harder for yourself than you are a boss?
• Do you have a compelling reason to want to work from home (that may include wanting to spend more time with the children)?

If you answered yes to all those questions, then chances are you are the right type of person to start their own business working from home.

So what will I be doing while I'm working from home? As this is your business, the answer to this depends on you, and how you decide to run it. Most people start part time, working around their families, and there current full time jobs. There is a top quality product that you are able to retail to customers, and we have the internet and marketing tools to support you with this. We find that it's not actually sales, it's more like story telling and promoting, just like you promote a good movie when you've seen one. In fact, most of our top retailers have had no sales experience at all, and still don't feel as if they have sold' anything. You also have the opportunity to help other people set up there own business and enjoy the same rewards that you will.

For more information visit: www.time4family.biz