Like in all aspects of life & work, working from home comes with its own set of pros & cons. I never intentionally chose to work from home - I just didn't have a choice in the matter. Orgapod's wheels were set into motion 6 weeks after giving birth to my third child. I already had two others under the age of three and a half, who demanded their fair share of attention & to make matters even more complicated Kevin, my husband, decided to start his own business as well! So needless to say working from home seemed like a pretty sane option at the time...
Four years down the road, I continue to manage the day to day affairs of Orgapod from my relatively organised office. It's funny - you may think its brilliant working from home - get up when you like, stay in your pajama's if that's the turn your fancy takes, or have the dinner simmering away while you fire off those last few emails...if only! Perhaps under certain circumstances (being single for instance) all that may indeed be a possibility, but not so when you have a full house on your hands. Of course there are numerous perks of working from home (and yes, I often have a casserole in the oven while I finish up the last few bits and pieces of the day) - its certainly one way of giving you optimum flexibility & keeping your overheads down to a minimum. However, in many ways its almost easier I feel doing the regular 9 - 5 stint at a different venue and then turning your back on it all as soon as the whistle blows!
I find it extremely hard to separate my work & home life. When I'm not working, I'm thinking about work and although I try hard to make it a point to shift focus & change character i.e., transform back into being a mother & wife after 4:30 pm, I often find myself sneaking off to my office to check my mail or make those one or two calls that I didn't get around to earlier. Pathetic but true!
The bit I find extremely difficult is keeping the balance right when the kids are home on one of their school breaks. To keep them entertained & try to put in a normal days work without a minimum of 150 interruptions atleast is some feat. Last summer I found myself in a sticky fix... I was on the phone to a potential buyer- pushing hard to convince him to take on my amazing Chai range & suddenly the peaceful quiet in my office erupted with the passionate screams and shouts of my four & six year old boys in the throes of a fight...mortification personified (I would not wish this experience on my worst enemy)!! If any of you unfortunately ever do find yourself in such a compromising situation feel free to use my weak (yet effective so far - or so I tell myself) explanation, 'its bring your kids to work day' ;)
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