Should a family emergency arise, I handle it like I would any other job. I explain the situation and say here’s what I can do to finish the job. If the client doesn’t like it, they can let me go. Most people are understanding, but I could see a potential client thinking a mom might expect different treatment by announcing she’s a WAHM right off the bat. My thought is if you wouldn’t go into a job interview and discuss how you’re a mother, there’s no reason to announce it when applying for WAH gigs.

Turns out her career moved up to an incomparably higher level when she finally dropped her WAHM title and started marketing herself simply as a freelance writer instead. In fact, one of her older clients–whom she had met when she still called herself a WAHM–praised her for the change, mentioning it made her look more professional.

Like Barbara Ling said above, it’s all about perceptions.

You know, it never would have occurred to me to note in a cover letter, pitch, or job application that I’m a WAHM, unless it was for a job that required you to be a WAHM, such as writing for About.com for their WAHM site or whatever. I usually just say or write something like, “My name is Jennifer, and I’m a freelance writer based in Anytown, USA, and I specialize in health care and medical writing…” Potential clients really don’t need to know that I work out of a cluttered second-story home office that could use a good dusting and hey, is that a Star Wars Lego toy on the floor? They may need to know that I’m freelance or a contractor, but I don’t think that my status as a WAHM really needs to come into it at all. I try to just emphasize my professional abilities, skills and background.

That being said, I don’t think you have to pretend forever that you don’t have a family. One of my favorite clients is a client who has known me for years and years; I’ve been freelancing for her since well before my son was born. So she knows all about my family, and I have occasionally had to decline assignments or ask for an extension due to a family emergency. But I have an established track record with her, so it’s never been a problem.

Some folks like the idea of working with a wahm. Why? It correlates nicely with maturity and responsibility.

I’m a guy who works from home. We have two little ones, but I don’t consider myself a wahd because the munchkins aren’t usually here with me during work days. However, it has happened often enough that I realize the kind of determination and effort it requires to be a real wahm/d.

When I need to work with someone on a project and have a choice between some person who is nothing more than a good bio page and someone who has the bio and wahm/d status, I think I’m a little biased in the wahm/d direction. There are too many unreliable people out there and you begin to look for clues that evidence some degree of responsibility.

Who knows, I may be the only person in the world who thinks that way.

Maybe I’ve got the same prejudice as the person you spoke with but when I hear “I’m a work at home mom,” I always think a person who chooses to purposefully identify herself as a “wham” to a potential client or employer is saying something about her priorities.

Fair or unfair, there is a connotation. And as writers, we all know exactly how important connotations are.

As long as a client knows that you’re going to do your best work for him, does it really matter if you advertise that you’re a mom and you work from home?

Both the SAHMs who want to work part time, and the professional full time writer (who happens to work from home) both exist out there and are both legitimate paths to take, but I don’t think they are the same thing. I can see what the client is trying to say, although I can see where it would raise some hackles.

Lisa