No Vacation
There’s something that I’ve been meaning to talk about for a while, but was afraid to discourage potential entrepreneurs from digging their heels in and getting into this new exciting world of going it on your own. There is no vacation. When you are a salaried employee of someone else they pay you to take time off. That’s kind of cool.
I thought that I should mention that, because I got practically nothing done last week and if I were working for someone else, at least I’d have the excuse that I was on vacation. No such luck.
Why was last week such a distraction? Well the kids were home on Chanukah vacation and we went out to see family and had them over as well. (The Chanukiah in the picture was something that my daughter and her class worked on and was displayed in the Mamila Mall, just outside the Old City of Jerusalem. Of course I’m very proud of her, and I obviously had to take time off to go see it.) My husband took a couple of days off and got paid for it. While he relaxed, I just felt guilty about all the things that I have to get done but that I’m not doing. That’s a real bummer.
I think that one of the big problems with working from home is that people don’t actually believe that you are working. The image of people who work from home is that they bask in the sun and eat bon-bons all day. Only when the whim hits them do they actually decide to do work. In case anyone is curious, this is NOT TRUE.
I believe in what I do and I’m having fun doing it, but there is so much to do and there just aren’t enough hours in the day to get it all done. My husband says that I need to have more realistic expectations. What does he know? When he wants, all he needs to do is take a personal day. And get this, when he gets sick, he gets to take a sick day.
I was a mom before I was an entrepreneur, so I know the drill. The same way that there is no vacation from your kids (at least not until they leave the house) there’s no way to take a break from what you are doing for your endeavor. I guess it’s just like bringing up a baby. So perhaps motherhood is a perfect stepping stone for any one who wants to start something all their own.
December 21, 2009 @ 9:29 pm
I found i spend more time working online on social media than when the time given at dtech 12-14 hours .And it is almost impossible to explain to the 9-5 drones (worker bees) about it.The upside it being flexible and allowing my mind to be creative then working on a prepared format where their is no scope of being innovative (formatted company script).I have found the road from the small blog to a respectable site a long lonely one but never felt it cuz i loved what i was doing and never felt like “work”.The flexibility to constantly innovate is very important sadly that is lost one the VC’s invest in projects.
December 21, 2009 @ 9:57 pm
I really love what I’m doing. The problem is that there is so much to do that I can’t get to it all. Long hours doing something that I love doesn’t scare me. The problem is finding those hours sometimes and not feeling guilty when you don’t. Social Media is a lot of fun, and very necessary, but I haven’t had enough time to actually work on as much as I need to.
All the new stuff that I’ve started doing since I left the 9-5 is extremely exciting and has kept my creative juices seriously pumped. The Pet Wiki is still pretty small, but it’s getting there. It’s a lot of fun to see it grow.
December 28, 2009 @ 9:30 pm
What class do you get to build mega Chanukiot in?
December 29, 2009 @ 3:04 pm
My daughter, Shira, is in Tzvia Yitziratit – an art high school in Jerusalem. Although they have art class, they did this all on their own time, after school.