Welcome to Work 2.0

My name is Téa Brennan, and I run a home-based web design studio. I have been asked to write about setting up a home-based business, and the challenges faced by parents who work at home.

If you subscribe to my Twitter, you would be pretty correct in thinking that on a daily basis, I have several nervous breakdowns, a number of hissyfits and very-occasional moments of zen-like happiness. Anyone who doesn’t know me would do well to assume that I am, in fact, crazy. But to those that know me, or those who also have their own small business, they know that every single day is filled with massive highs, massive lows, and everything in between. It just so happens that I make those highs and lows public — but it highlights an important, unsaid thing about going into business for yourself: it won’t be anywhere near as easy as you think.

If you are thinking about setting up a home-based business, there are plenty of resources to help you, from freelancing to e-commerce to SEO to government-sponsored forums. What I have found is that many of them are generic “small business” resources, that don’t deal with the specific challenges of being a parent and working from home. They also seem to have the idea that, because it is home-based, that anyone can do it. I mean, we all have a home, right? So why can’t all of us put a computer and a desk in a room and start a business? Well, not all of us can, and it goes some way to explain why so many businesses fail in the first year.
So what I hope to do is arm you with some real accounts, warts and all, of what it is like to run a business from home.

If you have decided to start a business, there will eventually be a discussion amongst workmates, friends or family about what it means to work from home. Even some of these “expert” resources will try and glamourise it, referring to the old “working in your PJs & slippers”, not having to commute, working your own hours, and all of those other lovely, warm and fuzzy things that we fantasise about when we are sitting in our cubicle.

For sure, that is part of it (although I can’t remember the last time I worked my own hours!), but there are other aspects to the business that can make or break you. I recently wrote on my own blog, about things I have learned about the web design business. A lot of those issues apply to other businesses as well… and I still learn something new from every single client. And I’ll be sharing that journey with you.

I wish I could tell you that I came to my business in a traditional, conscious way; and give you some lovely, methodical advice about planning to go freelance, saving up enough money to last you six months, and setting up a space where you work set hours. I would also like to tell you, as an “expert”, that I am together and composed and organised, and that nothing ever fazes me now that I have entered my fourth year of business. And that working in my PJs is luxurious compared to the nine-to-five grind.

But, the reality is, my business happened almost by accident. It was formed with literally no money and a computer. I didn’t even have formal qualifications in the field I am now successful in. Granted, I didn’t go in completely blind and have had a degree of luck along the way, but it has been hard work. It was really only when I had been in business for two years that I even considered myself “in business”!

So, I hope to take you on my journey and give you some insight into my days as a self-employed web designer with two children and one on the way. Balancing school runs, a shift-working husband, client calls, accounts, and what my business actually does, which is making websites. I will try and help you to avoid the pitfalls that I had, and most importantly, I would like you to read it, laugh, and ask questions which I will do my very best to answer.

Join me this Friday for my first topic: How I started my own business. If you have any questions, send them to me at work2.0@babblebaby.com.au.