When you work from home, you need support. It doesn’t matter if you run your own business or you have work-at-home days within your workplace. You need the people around you to help you get your work done. The problem is so many people don’t understand the freelance or work at home lifestyle. You need to find ways to deal with unsupportive people in your life.
Some family members and friends do it by accident. They don’t realize that you’re working and will try to call you or meet up with you during the day. And it happens every day.
Other times they’re unsupportive maliciously. Some of it is jealousy and other parts are the belief that you just can’t do it. Or they may not view you working at home as being actual work.
So, how do you deal with unsupportive people in your life? This is more than avoiding the interruptions but to deal with the problem makers. Here are some tips to help you.
Explain your job to them
It’s time to make it very clear that this is your job. Tell them what you do, and give them your business hours. Make it clear that you are unavailable unless it really is a dire emergency—as in someone is on their way to the hospital.
Sure, you can take days off for holiday. But tell them when those days are.
If you don’t, you’ll have people dropping their kids off onto you or calling by unannounced. They’ll just assume that you sit around the house all day in your PJs! And I know there are some people out there who do work in their PJs, but you’re sending the wrong message to deal with the unsupportive people in your life.
The idea of working from home is harder for older generations to get in my experience. The possibilities weren’t really there for them. I remember my grandmother really being confused at the idea that I could work from home. But she was at the point where she just let people get on with things.
My mom wasn’t really that supportive until she saw me working over New Year one year. I was pregnant with my daughter and my husband was helping them paint the house they were moving into after New Year. It was an extra week off that I hadn’t planned, so I set up my office on their kitchen table. My mom soon realized just how much I did and I really did work at home.
Stop giving them mixed messages
You tell people that you need to work, and then you share that cute cat video on your Facebook. What does that tell people around you?
You’re not working!
Don’t give them these mixed messages. Keep your social media posting for your five-minute break or for after work like your friends have to do.
If you give mixed messages, you’ll find it very hard to deal with unsupportive people in your life.
MORE: 7 tops tips to plan your day as a WAHM
Accept they’ll remain unsupportive people
You can’t change the way everyone thinks. When I used to work at my in-laws’ house, my sister-in-law just didn’t get the idea that I had to work. She would spend time chatting to me or telling me about the latest TV program on the Disney channel.
She’s changed a lot now that she’s grown up, but at the time I just learned to roll with it. My way of dealing with it was by putting earphones in and drowning out the talk.
You just have to accept that some people will remain unsupportive. Even when you prove that you are working and bringing money in, they may be unsupportive. If you keep letting it bother you, it will just lead to excess stress.
Surround yourself with supportive people
The best way to deal with unsupportive people is to surround yourself with the opposite. Find the supportive people who will help you get on with your job.
There are a few options here, and they may not necessarily be friends and family members. I’ve often found groups with likeminded people on social media is the way to go. There are a lot of Facebook groups for those who work from home, whether they’re writers, virtual assistants, coaches, or anything!
You can deal with unsupportive people in your life. It’s time to put your foot down and make it clear you are working and you will succeed at this.
Do you have unsupportive people in your life? How have you learned to deal with them? Share in the comments below.
This is so helpful! As an artist trying to ‘make it’ I can so relate. People may not really GET what it is I’m trying to accomplish. Setting boundaries is really important too. Like, not answering texts/calls until I’m done working and then sharing what I was doing.
Great advice and insight. Being a freelancer is definitely challenging and having to deal with any kind of “stigma” is a waste of energy. I am building a dream so definitely staying focused and setting boundaries with my time is so key! Thank you so much!
Great tips Alexandria! Working from home isn’t all sitting in PJs all day doing nothing. Most people stay out of my way these days, they pop in outside normal office hours or call first. My parents still ask when I’ll get a “proper job”. Been there, got the t-shirt and will stick with my working from home thanks 🙂
Great tips Alexandria! Working from home isn’t all sitting in PJs all day doing nothing. Most people stay out of my way these days, they pop in outside normal office hours or call first. My parents still ask when I’ll get a “proper job”. Been there, got the t-shirt and will stick with my working from home thanks