I have worked from my home Pro Tools recording studio as a professional Music Producer since January 2015 following five years of running my studio business from a rented room. There are some amazing every day "working from home" benefits:
- No commute, daily transport fare or parking
- No extra cost of renting a recording studio space
- Easily balance family and work responsibilities - I call this the Work/Life Balance
- Read - Run A Recording Studio Business From Home Or Rent A Premise – Which is Right?
Over the years though, those everyday benefits have all become secondary plus points in my working from home lifestyle.
Some of you may or may not know, I'm a father of four ranging from 3-years-old to 16-years-old. Working from home means my kids get to:
- See me "go to" and "come home" from work
- Watch me interact with clients and the public
- Witness my emotions when I've had good or bad days
- Learn the fundamentals of being financially independent
Those are also great benefits to working from home with a young family as those experiences are valuable lessons for my kids to learn as they grow up.
But again, benefits such as these are also behind what I feel to be the best aspect of working from home - When my kids and my home studio collide - Magic happens.
Music Magic
My parenting style doesn't dictate rules, force guidance or overbear my kids, no, my main Fatherly job is to inspire my kids. Before my recording studio moved home our older two kids were kind of in a rut and my wife Georgie and I didn't quite know how to inspire them. When the studio came home along with my upright acoustic piano, all of a sudden our eldest son started prioritising his piano playing followed quickly by our daughter demanding piano lessons. Over the last two years, our eldest two kids have become truly gifted musicians, they use the studio every evening for musical fun when I'm not working in it. Our teenager's passion for music has trickled down our family tree to our 8-year-old who also requested piano lessons soon after our daughter started lessons. Our 3-year-old son feels a bit left out, but he wants to be just like Daddy. When I'm not around he's playing with my studio gear, often pulling it apart but it's his way of feeling part of the family musical core.
Over the weekend our neighbours complimented my wife and I on our kids piano skills, one even said she looks forward to hearing our daughter play the piano in the late evenings. Our 8-year-old isn't shy, he regularly performs his piano pieces in front of his school while the rest of his peers are eating lunch. Our kids have blossomed into hungry musicians. There are times in the week they all get together and jam in the studio with two on the piano, one with a tambourine and our youngest pulling the faders off my control surface - Magic.
When all our kids are in the studio smiling, playing instruments and breaking microphones, feelings greater than pride develop in me, it really is very special and I treasure these moments. My kids, if they chose to follow a journey in music they can. If they don't, then hopefully each of them had fun childhoods playing in daddy's studio and daddy has some great memories to take to the grave.
Do you work from home with a young family? If so, share your magic stories when your kids and studios collide.