Posted By MaryPat Kavanagh on May 6, 2009

2 years ago, I had my own office. It was in the city, not far from downtown, in a great little neighborhood with a couple of coffee shops and cafes on the corner. I LOVED it! The best part for me was the ability to ramp up for work in the morning and transition back to the family at the end of the day. I stink at boundaries, so it held up some much-needed boundaries for me.

But when I closed down one of my businesses, it just didn’t make sense for me to be traveling 1.5 hours/day when I could be with my kids and husband during that time. Also, taking care of the family was cutting into my work time. I figured that if I worked from home (as most of my virtual friends did), I could spend an extra 1.5 hours each day getting stuff done for my business! Who doesn’t want an extra 1.5 hours each day?

I quickly learned the benefits of going to work in my jammies, jumping in the shower just before everyone came home from school and work and sitting on my porch with my laptop on good weather days.

What I lost was a sense of feeling like I belonged. Anywhere. In fact, looking back, I realize that my first winter home was spent suffering from seasonal-depression and it affected my whole family, thanks to me.

So now I make sure that I schedule appointments OUTSIDE the home. I joined the local gym and hired a trainer (since I will miss appointments for myself, but not for other people). And I make sure I get dressed up at least once each week for my husband to take me out—whether he wants to or not!

I also started my own virtual coffee group. It was a place to connect for a drink—any kind, although at 9 in the morning, MOST of us were drinking coffee or tea. What it ended up being was a place to connect for ideas, networking, brainstorming, support and even masterminding. If someone in the group was stuck, they could throw their situation to our community and get an answer (and be unstuck) in a minute.

I got to do all these things and stay in my jammies—or sweats!

The biggest benefit is that it helped me finally feel like I belonged again. Being part of this community has helped empower me to create new products and services, it has helped me get new ideas, and it has helped me really make more money this past year.

If you are working from home like I do, make sure you find the right community for you for empowerment, connections and support!

Categories: Connections, Lifestyle
Tags: Community, mastermind, work from home