I’ve been working from home for 15 years. In 2005, I left a safe and secure teaching job with healthcare and retirement benefits to pursue my dream of entrepreneurship.
Many people thought I was crazy. Some even called me irresponsible and foolish.
Still, I persevered. I knew what I was doing was right for me.
Today, millions of people find themselves having to work from home because of COVID-19. Unlike me, they didn’t choose their current work situation. Still — whether by choice or by circumstance, the transition to working from home is similar for everyone. There’s an adjustment period while we learn to navigate what becomes our new normal.
Those early days and weeks weren’t easy for me. I remember associating different times on the clock throughout the day with my old life at work.
8:17 a.m. I’d be with my E101 students right now.
11:49 a.m. I’d be on my lunch break with Krista right now walking to Elephant’s Deli to grab a cup of Mama Leone’s soup.
1:38 p.m. I’d be planning tomorrow’s lesson plans right now and catching up on email.
I had to train myself to associate those times with tasks related to my business-building efforts. The Internet wasn’t anything like it is today. Virtual conference systems were clunky at best and mostly still in development. There was no Facebook or Twitter or LinkedIn or YouTube for connection or distraction. I conducted the lion’s share of my business using a flip phone because the first generation iPhone was still a few years away from changing everything.
I had two small children when I found myself operating my professional life out of a corner of the living room. I had to navigate the spaces in my home in new ways, designating spots that I needed for productivity and my sanity which sometimes meant conducting business calls from inside my bedroom closet when absolute quiet was non-negotiable.
Over the years, I heard countless cries of, “Mommy, get off the computer!” which I didn’t always heed immediately. When I became a single parent in 2007, those cries only amplified.
Still, I adjusted.
Then 2008-09 rolled around and everything turned upside down again. The business I’d been diligently building for three years disappeared overnight, swallowed whole by the giant sucking sound of the housing market collapse.
Still, I kept going.
Over the next few years, I taught myself how to build websites using WordPress. My efforts were clumsy and grounded in experimentation. I fumbled through numerous iterations of code, all the while envying sites of online colleagues who seemed to have it all together.
I learned how to use the budding landscape of social media for marketing and branding. As an early adopter, I was able to help other small business owners make forward progress with my skills in play. I devoured books, watched YouTube videos about how to use Adobe Photoshop and Premiere Pro and built and sold a robust DIY writing course online from scratch. I hired business coaches and launched a podcast which is still going strong seven years later.
All this as an English major in college and former writing and literature instructor.
My income fluctuated wildly over the years. There were times when I had enough cash flow to justify attending college football playoff games in VIP style. There were others when I wondered if I’d be able to put food on the table and gas in the car.
Somehow, I always found a way.
What we are experiencing today is unlike anything we’ve ever known. When the entire world comes to a screeching halt, we either find a way to keep going or bury our heads in the sand and hope things will get better soon.
They will get better, but they probably won’t look like you think they will. Now is the time to take action. Leverage the enormous amount of exceptional educational content available online to grow yourself in one way or another. Yes, you can play more games with your kids, take more walks, clean out and organize the garage. I’ve been doing these things, too, and they’re great.
But the real gold is in preparing for the future through your own personal development. Books, podcasts, videos, and countless free online courses are waiting for you to dive into and absorb. Choose one new skill to learn and find every source of guidance about it you possibly can. Study and practice that skill. You have the gift of time right now. It could be what keeps you going for the foreseeable future.
It won’t be this hard for long. Even during a pandemic like the one we’re experiencing today, life continues to move forward.
Choose to move forward with it.
