It's Not That Easy Being a WAHM

My hope with this blog is to give you readers a glance into the mundane life of working at home. So many people think either, "Ooooo, you work at home. You must be rich" or "You work at home. How hard can that be?" I am here to say that I am NOT rich and I work HARD.

Business online has grown nicely over the past 8 1/2 years. I pay a fair amount of bills here at home now. But it was a long hard road getting here. And by long, I mean this is actually my 20th year of owning a ceramics business. Wow. In that time I have had 2 kids, moved 3 times and moved the business twice. And I am happy to say my marriage has survived : )

Korff Ceramic Kreations started out, come to think of it, in my first house. I never realized that before. Hmmm, I guess I have made a full circle then. We were just married, our house was small, but I managed to take up some room in it then : ) After a year or so of that and doing craft shows, the business was then moved into a small, 1000 sq ft, commercial building across the highway from my house. My first "studio". Never really thought of it as a studio...it was always "the shop". The shop was in an industrial park, not a great retail location, so we moved it after 3 years, I think. Funny how those memories have blurred over time.

A bigger and better location was waiting for us about 15 minutes away. Just off of a main highway, we moved "the shop" into a stand alone, old schoolhouse. It was 2 floors and 3000 sq ft. It was great. For a while. We taught classes, sold greenware and supplies, and did firings. I think in the 8 years we were in that location, the business made a profit once. It was tough. And frustrating. Here I was doing something I loved, trying my hardest, and it was not working out. More women were working, kids were into more activites, and no one had time to come to classes and sit and paint. So I sold off everything in the shop except a few molds and some shelving and moved a tiny bit of "the shop" home.

Korff Ceramic Originals was born. I know there was a reason for the slight name change, but that memory is blurry too. Maybe it will hit me someday. I planned on working at home, doing craft shows. Hmm. That is where this all started. Having a website was an afterthought. Something I would do someday. That was in the summer of 1999. KorffOriginals.com went live in November. The internet has worked out well for me. Since moving the business home again, I have never done a craft show. Business has been steadily growing on the internet alone. It's exciting. And it's nice to be succeeding at something I love doing. But it is hard work.

When you work at home, your business is always there. There is always something that needs done....paperwork, printing, firing, painting. It can be all consuming. And in fact it is for me in the fall. November and December you can usually find me working 24/7. Okay I sneak a little sleep in there. But that's about it. You can't leave your work at work, because your work is at home. On the flip side, sometimes there are too many distractions at home to get any work done. I don't do well when business is slow. I can't stay focused on getting orders out. I don't fall behind, it is just hard to keep working. I do better when I have steady orders coming in...don't have to be swamped, but just knowing there is something else to paint after shipping out an order is incentive for me to keep on going ; )

If you are considering working at home, know that is is NOT easy. You can have a flexible schedule, but you cannot ignore what needs done. It takes a fair amount of discipline and TONS of hard work. Really. There is no free money. And there is no quick money. It's doubtful I'll ever be rich.....but I am happy and I am working at home doing something I love. Life is good.