Home based business, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Having a Home-based business. As I sit down to write these blogs, I have all these big ideas that have been spinning in my head all night. AS soon as I’m at the computer poof they are gone. Perfectly structured sentences, humour and wit. Instead, I’m left staring at the screen trying to figure out how to get an opening paragraph down. IF you don’t get that down in a timely fashion you are doomed for the rest. TO say my brain has been a bit of scrambled eggs lately is a bit of an understatement, one I’m sure most small business owners can relate to. During our soft launch I had met a few small business owners with home-based businesses, which resulted in good conversations, advice, and some warnings about it. Cautions of people showing up during opened hours, closed hours, just whenever they wanted as you are there. These conversations seemed so surreal to me as how can the general public be like that? Fast forward 2 ish months and here we are sitting down to write a blog post on home-based business. To say I was a bit naive is an understatement. But I can admit I was wrong that’s for sure. We run an appointment-based business, for a reason. I shut my books down 24 hours in advance so that I am able to schedule and plan my day. Does this mean I am fully booked, sometimes and sometimes not? If you need a day of appointment shoot me a text message. Name and service you are hoping for (the service is important information as it dictates how much time is required to fit you in. An eyebrow wax is a different time frame then a facial. That’s not to say I might not be able to accommodate both, but all the information is good to know. However, I digress The beauty industry took a shit kicking through covid, I used to be able to tell you the exact percentage now the information is difficult to find. In 2020 we were forced closed something like 80% of the year, and when we were able to be opened, we had restrictions on services we were able to do. We are no strangers to sanitizing in this industry most of us licensed Estheticians (there’s a difference in education based on where you go) use chemotherapy level disinfectants. And have always wiped down all of our surfaces between clients not since the pandemic. Did you know this is a mainly woman dominated trade that took the biggest shit kicking? Rent still needed to be paid on locations, mortgages still needed to be paid at home and our children still needed to be fed. Here we are in 2023 and financially most of us have still not recovered from covid. This however isn’t a blog on that. It brought light to the scary times we lived in and the hinderance that existed on being able to make a wage. Between that and not really driving coupled with living in the middle of nowhere, the decision was made that Pampered Aesthetics would be a home-based business…… The commute time is excellent, there isn’t the fear of being able to not make the rent on the brick-and-mortar location, but we still do have a mortgage and children to feed. Despite being based out of our home this is still a business, one in which I need to make a wage in order to make it viable. What you pay is not what we make, far from that (however that will be a separate blog post). What are the downsides to this you ask? Time, it seems no one really respects your time because “ you’re at home anyways” Here’s the thing, you aren’t really I’m in the spa sitting waiting which is a bit of a separate entity for a reason (as Dr. Suess says, the worst game is the waiting game). You are in this waiting game for clients you aren’t able to sit and relax. I guess the simplest way to explain it is you can’t take your bra off, which most of us do after work. I can’t get lost in activities as you need to be hyper aware of the time. Not showing up or canceling last minute is money out of my pocket I am unable to fill this appointment last minute where I might have been able to earlier in the week, therefore we have a cancellation policy in which you sign. We have spa hours and we are opened 7 days a week but after hours messages to do something inside the spa, or check something quick for the client, are put on hold until the next day of open hours. This might seem unreasonable however we also have to function as people, as wives, as mothers. And sometimes we are already in bed when that message might come through. What does your evening look like after you are done work? Showing up without an appointment or unannounced. this is the one that truly boggles my mind the most. We have animals, in fact we have very small dogs that are not great with vehicles as a client you should never know this because they will never be outside when you are coming for an appointment. They are never outside when anyone is driving up our driveway. It’s a huge safety concern, when you just show up you could potentially kill one of our dogs. (am I being dramatic not at all it’s a real possibility) They need to be outside and able to run on the off time that there aren’t people here. Most of this blog post comes down to boundaries as a small business and trust me it is hard to implement them especially when we are first starting out trying to get all the clients we can. Our time is also important, whether working time or our off hours. At the end of the day, we are people too! When searching google how to establish boundaries as a home-based business here was the list created. Designate a Workspace: Set Regular Work Hours:. Inform Family and Housemates: Use Technology Wisely: Communicate Boundaries to Clients/Customers:. Create a To-Do List: Take Breaks: Establish Personal Time:. Consider a Virtual Office: 10.Delegate and Outsource: 11.Regularly Evaluate and Adjust: What are the perks of a homebased business? I never forget my lunch, though I rarely take a lunch break. The coffee is always fresh.Though it is not always warm. I do not have to go anywhere, which is perfect I have severe social anxiety. The workspace is exactly how I love it down to being able to paint the colours I want. My office and studio are in the same building, to be able to produce videos blogs and content I also have an office space without the distractions of home, family, and work. I don’t have the crippling worry about making rent, on top of home bills. I have a beautiful view that I get to share with my clients when they are there. As is anything in life there are so many pros and cons to each and every decision you make. I have always strived to be incredibly honest and authentic in all the blogs I publish. The good, the bad and the ugly. This is an insight into our small business and our struggles day to day, week to week. One thing I learned while talking to other small businesses is often times, we are not alone but for whatever reason it’s just not considered socially acceptable to talk about it. If we’re not talking about it how the heck are we ever going to do better? As businesses, as humans? I absolutely love having my business from home, while I get stressed out when people don’t respect my time. Or probably more the case doesn’t take me seriously as a business because I’m just at home. I truly wouldn’t change this, I’m grateful that I get to get up every day and do what I love in my own home. Not very long ago I wasn’t able to do what I love and I didn’t’ have my own home, or my own things. Sometimes life gets the best of us, and we take things for granted. This is not one of the things. Thanks for following this semi rant that I was hoping to be slightly informative. See you in the Spa, just give me a heads up first.