Whats it really like working from home?

I wanted to write this blog because now more than ever, so many people are working for themselves which is great. But I wanted to talk about the side to being a self employed in the Beauty industry that doesn’t get spoken about to often. So here's my experience about being self employed.

I've been working for myself about 3 yrs now and it has been a constant challenge and one that I don't really share to much with my friends or family. But I figured this may help someone or give people an insight on what its really like to work from home in the Beauty industry.

I hear all the time 'It must be so good to work from home' or 'Be good to be your own boss and work when ever you like' or one of my favorite's 'You must make a lot of money not having to pay shop rent or staff'

First of all working from home is great but there's many things that make it a lot more stressful to. Like having to keep your house clean ALL the time. Not easy when your kids and a partner have a habit of leaving everything at the door. Or Having to bribe your kids to keep quiet when your client arrives as she is new client you haven't met. You want her to have a relaxing time. She's paying you for a service that should be relaxing and you don’t want her to have to listen to kids fighting over the dam XBOX.

Then there's just the fact you are letting people you haven't met into your home, your safe place.

I'm also not sure if people realize that having your work place and home space together can be so mind cluttering. Like I actually miss my time I had driving to and from work. Having 20mins of not doing work or home stuff. But when your work space is your home space there's always something,like washing , dishes, running errands for others etc. . I think when I say I work from home doing beauty treatments, people think that's all I actually do and its not that hard. Never mind that's its an actual business where I have to do accounts, marketing, content creating for marketing, ordering supplies, cleaning, budgets, setting and planning business goal, replying back to clients, managing bookings and website and the list just goes on.

Then there's the money side of it. Now this can be hard, specially because there's so many out goings like tax, supplies, ACC, insurance and normally you’re the last to get paid. You also have the normal everyday bills like everyone else to cover. This can be made even more stressful when clients cancel or don’t show up. Because if your client doesn’t show up you don’t get payed. As well as the Beauty industry is now saturated with people offering the same treatments, you now have to stand out and show people what makes you different. Why should they come to you? Very hard when your not about putting yourself out there on social media to do all that stuff. Then there are others that will under cut your prices to try gain more clients ( I've actually had someone tell me they do this so they can take other salons clients).

I was doing school ball makeup a few years ago and a client said 'You must be making heaps of money today'. But what people don’t think about is the $80 foundation I'm using or the $100 moisturizer I use because I know it works really well with the makeup. Or the $80 eye shadow palette, $70 primer and $40 eyeliner and so on. To be able to buy the best products the gives the best results is expensive and requires hours of works to be able to buy the products.

There's the mental side of things. Let me tell you, this is something I was totally unprepared for. I always considered myself as a strong , nothing can faze me kind of person. I've been through a lot so the idea of working for myself should be a piece of cake, right? But having the pressure of doing everything yourself was/is hard, and trying doing it successfully too. Not having work colleague's to help or bounce ideas off or even juggling work and family life can be struggle. Missing out on events and trips because you have a client that wants to book in, and you have to do it because you've already had a cancellation this week and you have bills to pay just like everyone else. Now I don’t suffer from mental illness but I can understand if someone does it could be really hard for them or if someone develops mental health issues because of the stress and pressure. So if you know someone starting a business send them a little love. Support them any way you can. Weather it be booking in their service, telling others about your friends new business or at the very least that actually helps a lot is to like or share their business social media posts. Running a business has taught me to be more aware of my own mental wellness and to slow down once in a while to take care of me,surround myself with people that lift me up, genuinely support and want to see me succeed.

But all is not doom and gloom, although it is super stressful, we learn from our mistakes. Learn what works for us and what doesn’t then adapt it to. You learn to set boundaries and to say no to things that will put you out of time or money just for the sake of pleasing someone else. I've meet some amazing inspiring women ,both in the industry and as clients. Some whom I've made some really good friends with. People also trust me to tell me bout there personal lives so I've create some really good relationships. I also learnt I'm in a position to help others weather that be just listening to their heart brake or being able to teach others or even telling someone that your client is looking to hire someone so you tell them about a possible job opportunity for them. This is why I love working in a industry that creates these moments.

So if you work by yourself just no its hard but even the biggest of storms run out of rain at some stage. Its very easy to get caught up growing your business and comparing your work with others. But you need to take care of yourself and do things outside of home and work you enjoy and remind yourself why your doing this.