Four years of nurturing a ‘homepreneur‘ habit, and 2+ years of gently deflecting kind people who still ask why I don’t teach English, I’ve just started to feel it is the right fit to work at home. I venture to guess that most artists don’t think of themselves as entrepreneurs (will have to save this thought for later investigation), and most of the time I don’t think I am, either. But if you work for yourself (mostly), and make money doing something you love, doesn’t business play a part in it? Over at IC, they talk about being a creative entrepreneur and it resonates with me.
What I wonder is, where does the word ‘entrepreneur’ fit into this real-life description?: rise at morn to feed hungry duo-national Ameri-Turks + Turkish spouse, shuttle off first-born to nursery school after noisy stampede around house until 11 am, engage in quiet work time while second-born naps for a mere hour and a half, resume negotiations with second-born not to destroy house while I write or work on projects, do laundry, eat lunch, etc. until 5:30 when first-born comes home, followed by escapist downtime in kitchen making dinner while husband reacquaints himself with home and kids, ending with a song and dance bedtime routine and my own bleary eyes held open until midnight… I know I’m not alone in this, and that some women in this position would call themselves ‘mompreneurs‘, but I’m still uncomfortable with this tag. I find myself gravitating towards the new domesticity. It fits a little bit better. Where’s your tribe?
There was a time (a wee 3 years ago) when I was making handbags (while getting paid hourly to plead with university-level students to speak English at a language school), that I felt I had to hide the fact that I didn’t have a “real” studio, atelier, or brick ‘n mortar shop for my handbags. Now it is almost the opposite: I’ve invited more and more people into my home studio through twitter, illustration, and active engagement with others about crafting a creative life like in this blog post. This is such a relief. To align my work with my life instead of the other way around.
Lately I’ve been thinking about what’s next. One day (soon) the kids will be too old to share a room. We live in a modest 3-bedroom apartment and I’ll either have to leave the nest to work in a studio space outside, or we’ll have to search for a 4-bedroom apartment in Turkey, which is more difficult than it sounds. I’m not sure about re-entry into outside life. I quite like it here.