Work-From-Home Dads
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MY JOURNEY TO BECOMING A WORK-FROM-HOME DAD
I was about to start my 11th year as a middle school teacher.
My daughter Audrey was 18 months old and we were making plans to get her started in pre-school. But as the first day of school approached (and the covid-19 pandemic continued), my wife Sara and I were realizing we weren’t ready to send her.
That meant one of us had to stay home to take care of her.
With Sara being a pediatrician (and making significantly more than I was as a teacher) her staying home with Audrey wasn’t an option for us financially.
But I resisted the idea of being a stay-at-home dad.
I felt staying home would be abandoning my responsibility to provide financially for my family.
I didn’t need to make more money than my wife, but I needed to be making SOME money.
Not to mention that Sara had been wanting to go part-time for years.
Staying home and not working would be putting the ENTIRE financial burden on her.
I couldn’t do that.
I wouldn’t do that.
I also struggled because I thought I’d be a teacher forever.
I was a great teacher.
I won teacher of the year twice.
Students loved my classes.
I was respected by my colleagues and admin.
I had a vision to build up my side-hustle alongside teaching to earn enough of an income that Sara would be able to go part-time.
To leave teaching would be to walk away from that.
I remember talking to my dad about it, and he reminded me:
My family needed me to be home.
And I needed was to earn an income.
And so that’s what I did.
I left teaching and began working from home, first at a 3-person startup, then at a larger 80-person fully remote company.
And eventually, I was able to make more money than I was in the classroom and Sara was able to go part-time to spend more time at home!
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
In my first 6 months at ConvertKit, I was working from home while watching my 6-month old son Tam.
The role was demanding but through productivity systems I had set up, I was able to receive a 'sets a new standard' evaluation in my first job performance review.
All while still making time to spend with the family everyday and get my workout in.
MISSION
Being a work from home dad is great, but it’s far from easy.
Not only can the boundaries between work and family become easily blurred, but it can be very lonely.
So that’s why I started Work From Home Dads.
I’m on a mission to create a community of WFH dads helping each other thrive both professionally and personally.