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Overcoming Your Family's Misconception of Your Work-at-Home Job

© Lea Moore

"Work? What do you mean? I thought you stayed at home."

Although the "working" world is beginning to come around to the idea of telecommuting and home-based business as a way of life, there are still many who would look upon home-based workers and home-based businesses as a way for someone who doesn't like to work to say they have a job.

A lot of people, in response to your statement that you have to get off the phone so you can get to work will say, "Oh, you got a job?"

"REALLY!" I think, when they make those statements. But my response is usually the same. "I've had a job for the past 20 years. Now I just work at home"

They say, "Oh." As if my work is less productive, less income-producing than theirs is.

My mother-in-law is one of the people in this world who believes that if you don't get up every morning and go to a "job" that earns a paycheck, or if you don't have a "real office" to work out of, you don't have a "real job."

My husband, before we married (in December 2000), before he lived in the same house with me and even for a while afterward, was one of those people. Of course he supported me in my endeavors but he would get my blood boiling every time he would ask, "What do you mean, work." One day, I finally convinced him to take a vacation day and spend the day with me while I worked.

He never asked that question again.

It seldom occurs to those who are not entrepreneurial that one can often make a better living out of their bedroom or den than they can by going to a "regular job" every day.

So what do you do when your sister, brother, mother, cousin, friend or other family member lets you know that they think you are just sitting around doing nothing all day? If you feel comfortable with it, there are a few ways you can approach it.

1. Invite them to spend the day with you, on a work day, and let them see for themselves just what it is that you do. Let them watch you answer the phones and the e-mails. Let them sit idly by while you enter your receipts and expenditures into your accounting program. Ask them to assist you in the filing and such. Drag them along while you make deliveries, go to the post office and greet appointments at the front door. Halfway through the day, they will probably be too tired to move and be asking when it is time for lunch. They won't ask again.

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