7 Tips for talking with your significant other about making the switch to working from home

In my last blog post we talked about coming to the decision to make a change from floor nursing to working at home.  Now that you made the decision and signed up for Marie’s course, it is time to have a conversation with your significant other in order to prepare for the transition before you start interviewing.  There is a lot of thought that needs to go into having this discussion so you will need to get prepared on your approach in case you may be taking a pay cut.  Check out my tips below.

1.      Have your mental and physical symptoms list handy for your talk.  It is important to share with your significant other how your current job is affecting your mental and physical health.  Make sure you are calmly discussing how you feel before and after working.  (If you did not read my first blog post, please refer to it now)

2.      Know how your symptoms affect the family.  If you are not taking care of yourself, you are not taking care of your family.  Trust me, you may think you are, but not in the way you would if you did not have the stress in your life from your job.  Anger, frustration, exhaustion follow you home.  You may be too tired to make dinner or lack the desire to go back out with your family after getting home from work to enjoy a night out.  Perhaps you are drinking more or not taking care of yourself like you used to.  Stress can show its ugly face in many ways so think hard about how your family is being affected.

3.      Choose the right time to talk and what is most important for you to get across to your significant other.  If you have children, be sure to have this discussion when they are in bed or outside playing in order to have complete focus to your conversation. WHY do you want to leave your current job so bad in order to work from home?

4.      Do your homework on ways you will save money by working from a home office.  Figure out how much you spend on uniforms, shoes and supplies per year.  How about wear and tear on your vehicle, gas, childcare (keep in mind if you have small children, you will still need someone to watch them while you work from home) I have compiled some average savings from the Flex jobs website that might help.  If you want to read the in-depth version of the breakdown, check it out here.

a.      Gas - $686

b.      Car Maintenance - $767

c.       Dry cleaning and laundering - $500

d.      Lunches and coffee - $1,040

e.      Professional wardrobe - $925

f.        Tax breaks - $750

g.      Time - $4,867 THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT = Have you ever tried to place a value on the amount of time not spent commuting? Think of all the time you spend behind the wheel to and from work.  That time is valuable and all lost. Given that the average commute time is 52 minutes (see above), that’s nearly another hour every day devoted to a work-related activity, namely, commuting. However, by working from home, the average former commuter will be spending 225 fewer hours on a work-related activity, or about 28 fewer eight-hour days every year. How does that translate when it comes to your salary? Say you earn $50,000 a year and you’re commuting to an office. That would mean you’re making about $21.70 per hour (because you’re working an eight-hour day plus your 52-minute commute, or just under nine hours daily).

h.      Childcare – I did not add this in and keep in mind, small children still need childcare while you are working from home, however, perhaps children that are in elementary school will no longer need before and after school care.  This would be another cost savings.

i.        Total savings per year – approximately $4,000 +++++remember, you can’t put a price tag on TIME.

5.      Be prepared for possible objections. You know your significant other better than anyone.  If you may be taking a pay cut from your floor nursing job to work from home. Be sure to share what is most important to you.  What have you lost from working a stressful job, what will you gain by working from home, how will you feel better, how will the family benefit?

6.      Share your willingness to save money in other ways.  How can you save money to offset the lower pay IF it ends up being less based on cost savings above.  Use digital coupons when shopping, spend a little less at Amazon, do your kids really need every new toy?  Can you increase your temperature in the house during the summer instead of using the AC as much?  Change the light bulbs to LED, all of this saves on electric. Maybe cut down the amount of times you go out to eat per month. Little things all add up at the end of the month.

7.      Share your vision.  This is probably the most important.  Share and paint a picture for your significant other of how you think your mental and physical health would be better as well as the family based on leaving a job you are stressed and burnt out to work from home.

I hope these tips help you and I can’t wait to see where Marie’s course takes you on your journey to work from home.

If you have not signed up for Marie Pepper's Medicare Chronic Care Management Course to learn the skills to work from home as a Nurse, please learn more here Medicare Chronic Care Management Course

Is it time for a change?

I want to be completely transparent and let you all know; I have never written a Blog before so bear with me.  Marie’s course is changing so many lives and I want to help each of you who may feel you are at a breaking point in your career.  I want to talk about burnout, work/life balance, and how we have been given an amazing opportunity by Marie Peppers to continue our education in a way that has never been offered before, which in return, allows us to work remotely from the comfort of our home providing 1:1 patient care coaching. 

1. Recognize what is going on! 

If you are reading this, you are most likely ready for a change in your nursing career.  You are longing for something different, for some reason, right? After all, you did search Facebook for Remote Nursing and that is how you found Marie’s course.  Before we go any further, do me a favor and grab a pen and paper and write down the pros of your current nursing position and the cons.  Now, let’s take it a step further, write down how you feel before going to work and how you feel after you get done with work. Think physically and mentally.   

Now look at your list and place a check mark next to all of those you have listed that are listed below.  Keep your list handy as we move forward discussing burnout. 

       

Now let’s talk about what is really going on with your symptoms. Did you know that in 1970, the word “burnout” was first used in referencing nursing?  Nurse burnout refers to a condition caused by severe stress combined with high ideals and 1 in 5 nurses will experience symptoms of burnout during their career.  Not very shocking to you is it?  Let’s look at the cause of burnout. 

• Long hours (12+ hour shifts) 
• Poor work environments with poor work culture 
• Heavy patient workloads 
• Death and sickness 
• High stress environments 

Now that we know the cause of burnout, let’s look at the symptoms.  Now remember, these symptoms are going to be similar to how you “feel” mentally and physically before and after you get done work. 

• Exhaustion 
• Feelings of helplessness 
• Detachment or isolation 
• Lack of motivation 
• Poor judgement calls 
• Decreased career satisfaction 
• Difference in sleep habits 
• Change in appetite 

Burnout is the leading cause of hundreds of thousands of nurses leaving the profession.  But what if we could still do what we love, just not have the level of stress and anxiety that goes with it.   

3. What do you want to do? 

I am a huge believer in writing down goals.  Grab your pen and paper again and jot down some goals for yourself. 

1. Prioritize work/life balance.  What does that look like for you and your family?  If you could paint a picture of your ideal schedule or job, what would that look like?  How do you see yourself being happy from your career and with your personal life?  What needs to be done to make that happen? 
2. You must be proactive about change.  This is incredibly important as once you set goals; you need an action plan to reach them.  So, what are you going to do make the change?   
3. Look for development opportunities.  This one is easy; Marie has provided an amazing Chronic Care Management Course that allows you to continue your education learning about Medicare CPT codes for CCM that has a great demand for nurses.   

Take a look at the Goal Example below:

Goal	Action Steps	Time Frame	Resources
Obtain a job that offers a better work/life balance as a nurse working from home.	Enroll in Marie’s CCM Course	With next paycheck.	CCM Facebook page for course members
	Commit to 5 hours of the course weekly.	Every week with completion date in 6 weeks.	Have resume reviewed by Marie or assistant for feedback and make revisions.
	Engage with other nurses in the course or have graduated in the Exclusive CCM Facebook page.	Immediately upon enrolling in the course.	Apply at all jobs I qualify for that Marie posts.
			Schedule 1:1 role play with Marie’s assistant, Hope Klein.

I would like to end by saying, we are all in this together.  As nurses, we naturally have each other’s back and want to genuinely help each other obtain their dream job that makes them happiest.  I am going to continue doing blogs on a regular basis and offer tips on working from home and being successful.   

Next blog – How to get your husband and family on board with you “possibly” taking a pay cut to work from home.   If you haven't signed up for Marie Pepper's course, here is the direct link to do so.  

Medicare Chronic Care Management Course