Monday, October 19, 2009

musing about being self employed ,an artist/crafts person and working from home

I am constantly amazed at how many people who are not self employed are seemingly clueless about those of us who are..
The idea prevails that we "homeworkers" have no schedule to keep..or that on the spur of the moment we can just drop whatever we are doing.
How many of us have heard comments.."oh,  you are an artist..work at home, that must be so much fun"
uh, yes it's fun..but it's not play..if you do not work..you do not make any money..and the bills do not get paid.

Having been self employed for decades and working out of my home( studio) even good friends do not seem to realize or hear me when i say..no i can't do that i'm working ..or my schedule is very tight this week, i can't take time off ...or this is a real job.
One wonders what people actually have in their minds about artists and The Work.
Apparently you just add water and bing..the Thing springs into being..
Ok , so this may seem like a little rant..but really how many of us have encountered this very thing over and over again..
Ahh, the mystery of being a creative person.

1 comment:

Andrew Thornton said...

I think it's a common complaint. I used to live in a duplex apartment in New York with three others who all worked full-time office jobs. Somehow it always came down to me to wait for the cable man, sign for packages, or be the brunt of complaints when the place became disarrayed. I never went downstairs, but one of the roommates insisted that since I worked from home, I should be responsible to clean up a mess I didn't make.

So I can easily understand what you're talking about. At the same time though, I feel blessed that I am able to stay at home and that to a degree I do have control over my schedule. When I used to work in the restaurant industry, I felt like the routine was leeching my soul and the very artistic marrow was being sapped out. Luckily, I was able to break away.