Today I will be clearing up some common myths and misconceptions. I'll start with a little story of my own:
I was downstairs curling my mom's hair in preparation to leave for an overnight trip with my parents and a couple friends. My two other sisters weren't traveling with us, or going at all because their jobs interfered. My sister asked how long we were staying. Now mind you, I didn't even want to go, let alone stay overnight so I was a little grouchy. I told her we were coming back the next day "after lunch." "It started out being we'd leave in the morning, and then turned to we'll leave after lunch." I complained. "Just wait, pretty soon we'll get back home in time for a midnight snack!" My sister, instead of being understanding says "Why does it matter? You don't have a job anyway." Time Stopped. My mom stiffened. *Impending Clouds of Doom* I won't tell you what happened here except that I got on her case about my life revolving around other people's schedules because of that fact, and that no, I didn't have a job, but I had things to do because I wasn't dead.
All of this could have been avoided if she had known a few things:
1. Creativity never sleeps. I like to think that I'm not weird in this case, and it's a thing most creative people have to deal with. While people who work leave work at work, I couldn't even if all my sewing things weren't in my bedroom. If I am not up until 2 AM sewing (which in this case I was--pictures of that skirt coming soon) I would generally be dreaming about a new design just because I didn't do anything right before bed and even my subconscious is unhappy with that.
2. People don't forget they don't have jobs. I cannot say how many times people have reminded me that I don't have a job. I don't know about all of the other people out there, but I know one thing, I don't forget I don't have a job. For one thing I feel that if I had a job I would have more money. I also feel like if I had a job I'd come home with a frowny face like most people with jobs-at least around here. I feel like I would have a boss to complain about under my breath rather than everyone who disturbs me while I'm sketching or sewing.
3. People generally dislike having what they do undermined. Some people don't have jobs because they can't get a job, some people don't have jobs because they can't get a job they feel like won't smother them, some people don't have jobs because they choose not to have a job. I don't have a job because those few that have wanted to hire me either just didn't (there's a shocker) or I couldn't handle the job and create too. I do work hard at home though. I clean, watch after my little sisters, and create...I even go out with friends sometimes even though it's generally craft related. I think me going up to someone and telling them how bad their job is would be SO rude, but for some reason it's okay to make a person feel bad about not having a job when they are trying to work from home.
4. Those who work from home are growing in number. Pretty soon, those of us who stay home and make money (or try) will be seen more and more often, even now the number of in-home workers (especially crafters) is growing. This is a good thing, small businesses care more about individual people than larger businesses just because they have the time to.
5. We love it. I love art. I love sewing, hot gluing, sketching...I love creating everything I list to sell. I work hard at it and take pride in what I do. When people want something special, something one-of-a-kind, or just something quality they come to those who don't have "jobs" but work from home (usually longer hours than those who don't.)
Elisabeth Arona
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