W orking from home sounds like comfort, freedom, PJs on 24/7, happiness for not having to commute, among a lot of other perks. BUT, like everything in life, nothing is perfect. That thing of “being your own boss” is a topic worth analyzing because it seems to be freeing… is it really?

The labor market has become more flexible and is creating modalities that are being used by many organizations to get and retain talent who do not wish to be held by a tight schedule of 8 hours but want to have a balance between family and work. Specially millennials, who are very careful with this way of understanding work, they value the quality of life more than their professional development.

In the case of women, working from home alleviates in some way the issue of care for their children or elderly parents. Socially, It is expected that us women (and not men) should take care of the upbringing and education of our children, that we are with them while they are of school age and that we attend to the things of the house.

It is an unjust and inequitable distribution of domestic functions, a product of patriarchy which supposes that a private household life belongs to women, while the performance of work and the public is the task of men. This, of course, must change with the intervention of governments, the community, and families.

As we reach a certain level of consciousness, many allies have felt that leaving the formal business structure and acting on their own in a flexible schedule, helps achieve a better balance between the many responsibilities they have to assume.

We interviewed several women who work and produce money from their homes. They used to work from large corporations but they became independent and founded their own enterprises. They made their office their center of operations and point of contact.

Some of the questions we asked were:

Are you satisfied with that decision?
What elements do you think are important for women to make the experiment work?
What advice would you give to those who want to work from their homes?
Do you think it is better to separate house and work, or can you perfectly combine the same space for both spheres of life?

These are the 14 tips they gave us:

Discipline! Your space is your office. You have a schedule to meet even if you do not leave the house. “I work from 9 to 5 and after that time, I do not see the computer again until the next day.”
Set an agenda that provides structure and create a program you could easily follow.
Do not attend to personal matters while you are at work, so as to not to mix one thing with another.
Find the willpower to not to watch TV or receive a visit or go back to bed or go to the fridge to eat all day. Eliminate distractions.
Do not take your work to the bed or the dining table. Make clear separations of space between what is work and what is family space.
To overcome the boredom of being at home all day, they recommend going for a walk when you take a break, go for some fresh air. If you have available space you can also move around your home. Do physical exercises or go out to do chores after work.
Leave housework for the weekend or after the workday, but do not mix it during the day: “Imagine if you were talking to the customer and the washing machine alarm goes off…”
Get the company of a pet so you do not feel alone all day… it can make things more bearable.
Do not sit down to work in your pajamas, take a shower and get dressed as if you were going out. This will give you the mindset that you are ready to work.

If you have small children, send them to daycare for the day, or work only half a day, or when they are sleeping. If they are older, talk to them to set boundaries while you are working. Being at home does not mean you must be with them and for them all the time. Negotiate with your partner to know who is responsible for what.
Your partner should not believe that by being at home you are not doing anything. The same is necessary to distribute the tasks of cleaning, child care and maintenance of the home. The only thing you don’t do is go to an office outside your home, but you are still working. Negotiate this as well.
Technology and social media are great allies for us, and at the same time, it can tie us to endless days of procrastination if we do not set limits.
The hardest part is maintaining motivation and having a sense of teamwork when you’re alone in your home. Work supposes social life, which you lose when you dissociate yourself from it. Once again, technology helps with its multiple social apps. “I miss corporate life, interacting with others, meeting people, keeping up with business and political news, but I have to sacrifice something, there are no perfect solutions.”
For some customers, not having a local address to visit can be a reason not to take you seriously. One must think of collective spaces, such as coworking, or visits to cafes where you can meet with suppliers or users, which can make costs more expensive. Better yet, try to visit their offices, or contact them via phone or zoom.

Some interviewees think that, whenever possible, it is better to choose a place of work outside the home, but if you decide to use it as an office and you take into account these recommendations and experiences, you will surely achieve the dream of all: creating a useful and productive time to work efficiently, combined with the possibility of having many aspects of your home and personal life under control.

Blog originally published and traduced from FeminismoINC