Challenges Work From Home Moms In India Face

Gone are those days when we needed to give up our economic freedom to stay in the confines of our home and look after our families. With the advancement of technology, it is easy to work from home and earn money for a stay at home mom. Numerous companies are offering placements to moms who are on a career break or decide to be stay at home moms. Earning money while looking after your kids is a modern day bliss that has given thousands of qualified moms the economic independence they desired. But the bliss does come with challenges and that is what we will discuss in this article. In India, it is still social norm to go to an office to earn. The concept of work from home moms, though in practice, does come with some prejudices. But before delving into challenges work from home moms face, let us know the positive side of being a work from home mom in India.

• Work on your own conditions
• Look after your home and family without compromising your career or economic freedom
• Earn money at your own pace and your own time
• Help to ease the burden of bills with your partner
• Be flexible and adjust the daily routine according to your needs
• Decrease the stress level after you quit your job to be a mom
• Save money for better future

To be a work from home, one needs to be very punctual and determined. When you work for yourself, it is hard to maintain the pace, in comparison to when you work for someone else. You need to be better at time management, be punctual and always eager to work at wee hours. Here are the challenges that a work from home mom in India faces.

Balancing Work and Family

I know moms who wake up before their kids and work at least two hours before the hubble-bubble of the day starts. It is important that you balance your family life and work so that you don’t get stressed about it. Work like you did while going to your previous office. Keep the whole weekends for the family. Do not open your laptop on Saturday- Sunday and invest your time with the whole family. Being a work from home mom doesn’t imply that you have to be in front of the laptop all days a week.

Time Management

When you stay at home, often laziness takes over and the strict routine that you have otherwise followed while working for someone else is lost. May be a guest shows up, or the child is home, or you switch on the TV and get lost in the maze of daily soaps. If you really want to work and earn money while being home, you need to follow a much stricter routine. Or confine your working hours and stick to it.

Social Acceptability

As I said above, work from home is still not considered ‘normal income’ in India and it does come with prejudices. Being a work from home mom myself, the one question that I frequently counter is, “You spend half of your free time in front of computer, why?” Answer the politely with a smile that you have some work or ignore the question. Do not bother  explaining what you do in front of your laptop. It will save your peace of mind and time. Remember, you do not have time to indulge in gossip. There is a client out there, waiting for finished work.

Self Discipline

Work from home doesn’t mean that you can be in your pyjamas all day long and work from your dining table. Now, don’t be shocked. I know, a LOT of you are in pyjamas right now, holding your cup of coffee and reading this article on your ipad. Perhaps, you are spending time surfing the internet and connecting to old buddies on Facebook. I know internet can be a mine of time consuming. But you have pending assignments that needs immediate attention or you will lose your credibility. But just one thing can save you from it and that is self discipline. Dress up. Set up a work station. Limit your Facebook time. These measures of control can give you the desired time to concentrate on your work and be efficient.

Online scams

This is one of the major concerns for moms who want to work from home in India. Sometimes, it becomes hard to differentiate a potential customer from a scammer and your hard work goes down the drain. Be extra vigilant. When you speak to a potential customer, do not hesitate to ask questions. Ensure that he really needs your assistance. And always be frank with money matters. Ask for at least 25% of your fees in advance. And remember, no client would ask you to invest money to get work from him. Keep the above points in mind and enjoy the flexibility and economic freedom that comes with working from home.

Puspanjalee is a blogger and book editor who juggles continuously between her job and her two year old human offspring. Whenever she gets time, she loves to talk about babies & parenting, time management for working moms, photography and books. She muses regularly on www.mywritingmyworld.com.