Auntie Wahm – Huh? Let me explain…

I had been a work-at-home-mom long before I ever knew the acronym “wahm” existed. When I saw the term, I was elated! Wow, there are people online out there, willing and wanting to talk about work at home life, just like me! Or so I hoped. What I then realized is that I was actually doing it, while the majority of women I met wanted to do it.
I answered posts requesting help with enthusiasm. I gave suggestions on places and ways to find work and offered advice on working at home with young kids – mine were 21 months and newborn at the time. Soon I realized how much time I was spending on the message boards and how little I was getting out of it. My business wasn’t growing. In fact, I was actually being taken away from work that needed to get done!

Times have changed and I have since met many brilliant, energetic women who love business as much as I do and want to share the work-at-home experience with the rest of the world. You still need to be careful. Many sites that were originally designed to be helpful are full of spammers. The internet is full of friendly people offering advice on how to get started. I got tired quickly of sites where women whine constantly about no sales in one post and on another try to sell you “the best way to stay at home with your kids is to join our team.” When did wahms start preying on other wahms?

Don’t get me wrong. I’m sure 99% of these people are truly trying to do the best for their families. Starting a business at home is no small feat. Many of us who live in rural or depressed areas of the countries are so lucky to have Internet options available. Still, I got so tired of hearing the term “wahm.” While there are many, many great sites available to wahms, there are ten times as many wannabe sites offering the same information. The same links. The same articles. The same resources. All run by women who truly have not BTDT. Am I anti-wahm as my friends nicknamed me?

Hmmm…maybe. But I also like to think of myself as an “auntie”. Someone who really has something to say and something to offer both wahms and wahm-wannabes. I’ve been in business since 1994, and have always turned a profit, even in my first months. I work full-time, although I flex my hours to catch field trips, volleyball games, and in-school activities with my girls. I know what it’s like to have no business and lie awake all night wondering where my next job is coming from. I know what it’s like to have more business than I can produce myself and worry about letting a big client down. I’ve had two kids with chicken pox, pulled my back out and still had to work 10 hour days. I’ve used daycare, no daycare, swapped childcare, hired help, used freelancers, crashed computers, lost power…heck, I used to send hundreds of graphic files using a 14.4 modem.

So, if you want to work at home – do it! Read everything you can! If it looks too good to be true, it is. Don’t pay for a job opportunity. If you have a job, don’t quit it until you have enough money in the bank to last a few months with no income. Read (and search!) the message boards before asking questions. Ask specific questions. It was hard enough for us to dream up our own businesses – don’t ask us to come up with one for you! Surround yourself with experts and supportive people. Most of all, be realistic. Can you truly afford to be a wahm? Can you afford not to?

Treece