Part I
6:15 a.m.: Wake the children immediately. Be a little
sympathetic but not too much; there's no time. Prepare the
baby a bottle in record time. Listen to Moishe cough heavily
and discover that he's burning up with fever. Stuff him with
Acamol and send him to nursery (you'll run with him to the
doctor in the afternoon). Make everyone sandwiches. Give
Sarahle a note about being late yesterday. Get dressed in a
heartbeat, quickly kiss everyone, take the steps two at a
time and catch my ride at the last second.
Yes, women who don't work outside the home don't have this
grueling morning. Their children are spared wandering around
with a key in their bags and they have a hot lunch every day.
But they have other problems. The women interviewed for this
article touched on a sore point: "Five years ago, before I
opened the photography studio in my home, I was desperately
looking for some income on the side," says Tammy Glick, owner
of Tzilumit studio in Bnei Brak. "I thought of taking girls
in to learn cooking but then I didn't even have the money to
buy an electric vegetable peeler. I told my husband that I
would start photographing children as a hobby, I'd earn a few
shekels and I'd use them to buy shoes for the kids."
Miriam Shmuelevitch, who has been selling jewelry from her
home for years, described the economic woes that spurred her
to invest in a home business: "The children were born one
year after another and we needed income. I looked for an
occupation that would enable me to combine running the house
and working."
Many women run businesses from their homes. The women
interviewed for this article emphasized the fact that in
order to succeed at running a business from home, it's
imperative to keep a strict schedule, maintain self-
discipline, separate work and home and most importantly
— not to give up on the way but to jump the hurdles.
All Beginnings are Hard
Tammy Glick's diary is packed with appointments a month in
advance. They come from all over the country aside from the
regular clients from London and Zurich. Tammy is a pioneer.
Only five years ago, there was no such thing as a home
studio.
"It began as a lack of choice coupled with a hobby," Tammy
recalls. "I finished the seminary without a smidgen of work.
My husband sat and learned, and there was no income. Here and
there I worked as a saleswoman for a paltry sum and the one
who profited from most of my money was the babysitter. I
looked for work from home and it occurred to me to adopt
photography, which was my hobby, as a minimal business.
Without professional knowledge or money to invest, I jumped
in the deep end without a life jacket.
"I went in blind, as they say. I took 1500 shekels which were
earmarked for a suit for my husband and I went with my
husband and 8-month old baby to buy a camera that seemed to
me then to be professional. The whole way, my husband kept
asking, 'Are you sure you know what you're doing?' I had the
daring to try. With a certain heaviness, expecting another
baby, I began working a few hours a week. I still didn't
leave sales. Surprisingly the clients were enthusiastic,
'Your pictures aren't the usual thing,' they flattered me on
a boy sitting next to a basket of apples while biting into a
juicy one.
"I started to learn the profession diligently and I spent
hours on it. After a half year of studying, I understood that
I had to buy a really professional camera and accessories.
But that wasn't the end of it. I did a second photography
course and then I went to learn lighting. At the same time, I
invested hours of thought to develop original ideas. I
checked into things and I traveled out of town. I captured
special moments and I began investing in props and sets
because the background is very important for pictures."
However, aside from expensive equipment, backdrops and a
treasure trove of accessories, Tammy gives her clients a lot
of attention. "This work requires patience," Tammy explains,
"To win over a frightened child is a very demanding task.
Even to photograph an esrog and the four species as
one arts teacher requested, you need expertise, and still
life doesn't object, doesn't run away or whine, doesn't get
fever or hives and doesn't cling to the couch or his mother.
I'm always equipped with candies, wipes and Acamol . . . the
important thing is to get the kids to smile.
"I didn't know I had such reserves of tranquility and
tolerance until I started working in photography and I think
that to have discovered this side of myself has been a gift.
When I was just starting out, I suggested to a mother that I
photograph her son holding a sefer Torah. `That's
old,' she said. `Suggest something more innovative.' I was
speechless. I immediately said to her that the Torah is
really very old, not just the scroll.
"I started small and I have to cope with major expenses. The
pictures cost only a few shekels and none of my clients
imagines that I spend thousands on film, professional
developing that I send with a messenger to an excellent
laboratory in Tel-Aviv, and I haven't even mentioned the
income tax, national insurance and all the pictures that end
up in the trash, all the faces and closed eyes. There's also
the competition — I have to raise my level of service,
not my price, like giving a free wooden album with my logo to
clients. There are tremendous payments on expensive
equipment. The lighting alone costs eighteen thousand dollars
and you also have to include the props, for example, a straw
bicycle for 850 NIS, a slide from America that costs 250
dollars, a $200 chair from abroad, a doll carriage for 450
NIS and more. When I first investigated these prices, I
didn't have money for a baby carriage. I borrowed chairs for
my house but for the studio, I looked for the best. I was
drowning in a sea of debt. I didn't spare one shekel so that
I could establish a good quality studio."
The Living Room is the Studio
Tammy runs the studio from her living room where the lighting
is set up, the umbrellas, the props, the backgrounds, the
wooden albums and this is where the clients come. And what
about Shabbos? "Everything folds up and moves over," says
Tammy. "It's a bit crowded, although now, the situation is
relatively good. We made the salon bigger. I felt there was
breathing space until the lighting guy came and said that the
space was too narrow and how could I work under such
conditions? My children have gotten used to it. I've
encouraged their spending time in the children's room so the
salon is not within their play territory.
"On the other hand, I have to be a policeman when it comes to
keeping the house clean and that's not an easy job. But with
cooperation and recruiting everyone to maintain order, it's
easier to cope."
Tammy says that she isn't the one who organizes her schedule.
There's Someone who guides it from Above. A child was given
an appointment a month in advance, and got sick the day
before. Tammy plans her work schedule exactly and a cancelled
appointment is a loss for her. And then, at exactly the same
time, a woman called who had come to stay with her mother-in-
law in Bnei Brak and wanted to photograph her son. Or "I had
this dream to make a sand castle," says Tammy. "The kind
where kids can stick their hands in the sand. It bothered me
because I'm a doer who has to do what she plans. And
suddenly, one evening, a friend calls me from Ashdod that
she's started to create props for photography from styrofoam.
I suggested my idea to her and the result was a greater
success than I could have imagined. This also happens: I had
ordered a garden background for a reasonable price that I had
borrowed for this purpose and I didn't like it. It happens
that out of 28 pictures, I throw 26 away. Then I ask myself,
if I did the right thing by opening the studio. In a home
business there are a lot of compromises, a lot of investment,
expenses and risks. You have to be very strong to withstand
the waves of anger. My husband is the one who strengthens me
and gives me hope. He always says that you start on a small
burner and progress from there."
My Children are My Career
"With all my success in photography, I aspire to be the best
mother!" pronounces Tammy. "Sometimes, I get work offers to
teach photography or to photograph events, and I turn it down
because of the kids. Working from home allows me to be a good
mother first and foremost, to fulfill my main role — to
take care of the kids. I make an effort so that my business
doesn't hurt them and my ambition is to educate them in the
way that's important to me.
"So I learned to make a schedule and stick to it. At the
beginning, I worked whatever hours I was asked, even on
Friday afternoons, and my family paid the price. I decided to
get organized, to work mornings when the children were in
school or in the afternoons when they were sleeping and to
rest in the early afternoon. I turned people down from lack
of time. I'm not made of steel. My work is very physical. I
work on each picture separately and if we're talking 15
pictures, it involves a lot of investment. When time is
pressured, before Lag Ba'omer or Erev Purim, you can't even
talk to me. And there comes a point when I don't have energy
to talk. Because for a good picture, you have to talk a lot,
convincing and complimenting.
"I'm also my own secretary and have to worry about payments,
national insurance, income tax, organizing albums, making
appointments with clients, etc. Therefore, I have to set
clear limits that allow me to breathe and enjoy the results
of my work. As an independent, I have one advantage —
the ability to be flexible. I won't work if there's a
simcha in the family or at the other extreme, I can
work extra hours during peak periods. Today, I always tell
myself, 'If you can be a good mother and a good photographer -
- that's great. And if not, it isn't your job to be a
photographer, only a mother."
To be continued
