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The 5 Habits of Highly Effective Work-at-home Moms

By Babble.com | Secrets to Your Success – Wed, Oct 17, 2012 5:18 PM EDT

The 5 Habits of Highly Effective WAHMs

What do you think of when you hear the term work-at-home mom? Women selling make-up at parties? Moms sewing cloth diapers?

Well, there are definitely some women doing those things, but there's a much wider range of jobs that moms are doing from home than sell make-up and make baby clothes. For example,I work from home full time (and then some), as a freelance writer for three different websites.

I have friends who sell things at parties for extra income, but I also have a ton of friends who work from home in lots of other capacities: part-time, full-time, telecommuting to huge corporations, and entrepreneurs who have forged their own businesses.

Related: 10 ways to save money when you work from home

After interviewing a number of work-at-home moms and learning about all of their very unique experiences and jobs, I also found that all the women had several things in common which leads to them being so successful at what they do. So here are 5 essential characteristics of highly effective work-at-home moms:

1. All the women are flexible. Whether they had changed paths in their careers, or simply made the best of a bad situation, all the women I interviewed had a history of thinking creatively and solving problems. Susan, who is a Senior Editor for a national optical trade magazine, had proven herself a hard worker and team player, always pitching in where needed, before landing her current work-at-home gig. Lauren, who works part-time as a medical textbook editor, also started an Etsy business. And Carrie, a personal concierge, tailors her work exactly to her clients' needs.

2. The women who started their own businesses took risks and worked hard to make them pay off. Being an entrepreneur means taking risks. Whether you're becoming a full-time babysitter or launching a photography business, you're taking a gamble that you're going to find and maintain a client basis that's going to bring in enough money to make it worthwhile.

Related: 10 smartphone apps that help you shop and save

3. They all work really hard. Sure, working from home seems glamorous. There's the whole sitting around in your jammies thing, for example. But in fact, if we don't bust our asses, we don't get paid. In fact, many work-at-home moms feel compelled to work even harder than they did in an office, because they don't want bosses to think they're slacking off.

4. They're all highly disciplined. While many of these moms enjoy the flexibility of setting their own hours, when they're working, they're working.

5. None of the women have their kids home full time. It's virtually impossible to work full-time from home and have kids at home. Maureen, who provides child care, is an exception to this rule, and even her kids are in school full time now. The women I interviewed work almost all of their hours while their kids are in school. Sherry, a professional photographer, has her toddler in daycare three days a week because (no surprise here) toddlers don't really enjoy sitting quietly while Mom edits photos, nor are they going to stay in one place while Mom's at a client shoot. If you're thinking about making the jump to working at home, do not make the mistake of thinking that you don't need child care.